Managing cache pools

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses, systems, and methods are disclosed for managing cache pools. A storage request module monitors storage requests received by a cache. The storage requests include read requests and write requests. A read pool module adjusts a size of a read pool of the cache to increase a read hit rate of the storage requests. A dirty write pool module adjusts a size of a dirty write pool of the cache to increase a dirty write hit rate of the storage requests.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/406,287 filed on Feb. 27, 2012, which claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/446,889 entitled“APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR MANAGING CONTENTS OF A CACHE” andfiled on Feb. 25, 2011 for David Atkisson et al., all of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to caching data and moreparticularly relates to managing contents of a cache.

2. Description of the Related Art

A cache device typically has a smaller storage capacity than the backingstore with which the cache device is associated. As a cache device fillswith cached data, certain cached data may be evicted to free up room tocache additional data. If data is evicted from a cache device, asubsequent request for the evicted data yields a cache miss. Evictingthe wrong data from a cache device can increase the number of cachemisses and decrease the efficiency of the cache device.

In cache devices that store both read data and write data, availablestorage capacity is also shared between read data and write data. Astatic division of a cache device between read data and write data canalso be an inefficient use of the cache device if the static divisiondoes not reflect a user's working data set of read data and write data.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Methods are presented for managing cache pools. In one embodiment, amethod includes monitoring storage requests received by a cache. Thestorage requests, in certain embodiments, include read requests andwrite requests. A method, in a further embodiment, includes adjusting asize of a read pool of the cache to increase a read hit rate of thestorage requests. In another embodiment, a method includes adjusting asize of a dirty write pool of the cache to increase a dirty write hitrate of the storage requests.

Apparatuses are presented for managing cache pools. In one embodiment, astorage request module monitors storage requests received by a cache.The storage requests, in a further embodiment, include read requests andwrite requests. A read pool module, in one embodiment, determines atarget read pool size for a read pool of the cache to increase a readhit rate of the storage requests. In another embodiment, an evictionmodule selects data for eviction from the cache based at least partiallyon a difference between an actual read pool size and the target readpool size.

A dirty write pool module, in one embodiment, determines a target dirtywrite pool size for a dirty write pool of the cache to increase a dirtywrite hit rate of the storage requests. In a further embodiment, adestage module adjusts a destage rate for destaging dirty write datafrom the dirty write pool of the cache. The destage module, in anotherembodiment, adjusts the destage rate based on a difference between anactual dirty write pool size and the target dirty write pool size.

Systems are presented for managing cache pools. A system may be embodiedby a processor, a storage controller, and a cache controller.

The storage controller, in one embodiment, is for a nonvolatilesolid-state storage device. In a further embodiment, the nonvolatilesolid-state storage device is in communication with the processor overone or more communications buses. The cache controller, in anotherembodiment, is in communication with the storage controller.

The cache controller, in certain embodiments, includes a storage requestmodule, a read pool module, and a dirty write pool module. In oneembodiment, the storage request module monitors storage requestsreceived by the cache controller. The storage requests, in a furtherembodiment, include read requests and write requests. In one embodiment,the read pool module adjusts a size of a read pool of the cache toincrease a read hit rate of the storage requests. The dirty write poolmodule, in another embodiment, adjusts a size of a dirty write pool ofthe cache to increase a dirty write hit rate of the storage requests.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the advantages of the invention will be readilyunderstood, a more particular description of the invention brieflydescribed above will be rendered by reference to specific embodimentsthat are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that thesedrawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are nottherefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the inventionwill be described and explained with additional specificity and detailthrough the use of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of asystem for managing contents of a cache in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 1B is a schematic block diagram illustrating another embodiment ofa system for managing contents of a cache in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of asolid-state storage device controller in a cache device in accordancewith the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of asolid-state storage controller with a write data pipeline and a readdata pipeline in a solid-state storage device in accordance with thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of abank interleave controller in the solid-state storage controller inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of ahost device in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of adirect cache module in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram illustrating another embodiment of adirect cache module in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of cachepools in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of aforward map and a reverse map in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of amapping structure, a logical address space of a cache, a sequential,log-based, append-only writing structure, and an address space of astorage device in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 11A is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of amapping structure and a cache membership map in accordance with thepresent invention;

FIG. 11B is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of amapping structure entry and a cache membership map in accordance withthe present invention;

FIG. 11C is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment ofmapping structure entries and a cache membership map in accordance withthe present invention;

FIG. 11D is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of amapping structure in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating one embodiment ofa method for managing contents of a cache in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating anotherembodiment of a method for managing contents of a cache in accordancewith the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating one embodiment ofa method for preserving read data in a cache in accordance with thepresent invention; and

FIG. 15 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating one embodiment ofa method for maintaining metadata for evicted data in accordance withthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Many of the functional units described in this specification have beenlabeled as modules, in order to more particularly emphasize theirimplementation independence. For example, a module may be implemented asa hardware circuit comprising custom VLSI circuits or gate arrays,off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or otherdiscrete components. A module may also be implemented in programmablehardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmablearray logic, programmable logic devices or the like.

Modules may also be implemented in software for execution by varioustypes of processors. An identified module of computer readable programcode may, for instance, comprise one or more physical or logical blocksof computer instructions which may, for instance, be organized as anobject, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, the executables of anidentified module need not be physically located together, but maycomprise disparate instructions stored in different locations which,when joined logically together, comprise the module and achieve thestated purpose for the module.

Indeed, a module of computer readable program code may be a singleinstruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed overseveral different code segments, among different programs, and acrossseveral memory devices. Similarly, operational data may be identifiedand illustrated herein within modules, and may be embodied in anysuitable form and organized within any suitable type of data structure.The operational data may be collected as a single data set, or may bedistributed over different locations including over different storagedevices, and may exist, at least partially, merely as electronic signalson a system or network. Where a module or portions of a module areimplemented in software, the computer readable program code may bestored and/or propagated on or in one or more computer readablemedium(s).

The computer readable medium may be a tangible computer readable storagemedium storing the computer readable program code. The computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, holographic,micromechanical, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or anysuitable combination of the foregoing.

More specific examples of the computer readable medium may include butare not limited to a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a randomaccess memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmableread-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a portable compact discread-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disc (DVD), an opticalstorage device, a magnetic storage device, a holographic storage medium,a micromechanical storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium may be any tangible medium that can contain, and/or storecomputer readable program code for use by and/or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

The computer readable medium may also be a computer readable signalmedium. A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated datasignal with computer readable program code embodied therein, forexample, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagatedsignal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limitedto, electrical, electro-magnetic, magnetic, optical, or any suitablecombination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be anycomputer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage mediumand that can communicate, propagate, or transport computer readableprogram code for use by or in connection with an instruction executionsystem, apparatus, or device. Computer readable program code embodied ona computer readable signal medium may be transmitted using anyappropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline,optical fiber cable, Radio Frequency (RF), or the like, or any suitablecombination of the foregoing. In one embodiment, the computer readablemedium may comprise a combination of one or more computer readablestorage mediums and one or more computer readable signal mediums. Forexample, computer readable program code may be both propagated as anelectro-magnetic signal through a fiber optic cable for execution by aprocessor and stored on RAM storage device for execution by theprocessor.

Computer readable program code for carrying out operations for aspectsof the present invention may be written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventionalprocedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming languageor similar programming languages. The computer readable program code mayexecute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer,as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer andpartly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer orserver. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected tothe user's computer through any type of network, including a local areanetwork (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may bemade to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using anInternet Service Provider).

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentis included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases“in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” and similar language throughoutthis specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the sameembodiment, but mean “one or more but not all embodiments” unlessexpressly specified otherwise. The terms “including,” “comprising,”“having,” and variations thereof mean “including but not limited to,”unless expressly specified otherwise. An enumerated listing of itemsdoes not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive,unless expressly specified otherwise. The terms “a,” “an,” and “the”also refer to “one or more” unless expressly specified otherwise.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics ofthe embodiments may be combined in any suitable manner. In the followingdescription, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples ofprogramming, software modules, user selections, network transactions,database queries, database structures, hardware modules, hardwarecircuits, hardware chips, etc., to provide a thorough understanding ofembodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however,that embodiments may be practiced without one or more of the specificdetails, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. Inother instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are notshown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of anembodiment.

Aspects of the embodiments are described below with reference toschematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams of methods,apparatuses, systems, and computer program products according toembodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block ofthe schematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams, andcombinations of blocks in the schematic flowchart diagrams and/orschematic block diagrams, can be implemented by computer readableprogram code. These computer readable program code may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer,sequencer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce amachine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor ofthe computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, createmeans for implementing the functions/acts specified in the schematicflowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams block or blocks.

The computer readable program code may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the schematic flowchart diagramsand/or schematic block diagrams block or blocks.

The computer readable program code may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the program code which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The schematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams in theFigures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation ofpossible implementations of apparatuses, systems, methods and computerprogram products according to various embodiments of the presentinvention. In this regard, each block in the schematic flowchartdiagrams and/or schematic block diagrams may represent a module,segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executableinstructions of the program code for implementing the specified logicalfunction(s).

It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, thefunctions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in theFigures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, beexecuted substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, depending upon the functionalityinvolved. Other steps and methods may be conceived that are equivalentin function, logic, or effect to one or more blocks, or portionsthereof, of the illustrated Figures.

Although various arrow types and line types may be employed in theflowchart and/or block diagrams, they are understood not to limit thescope of the corresponding embodiments. Indeed, some arrows or otherconnectors may be used to indicate only the logical flow of the depictedembodiment. For instance, an arrow may indicate a waiting or monitoringperiod of unspecified duration between enumerated steps of the depictedembodiment. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagramsand/or flowchart diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the blockdiagrams and/or flowchart diagrams, can be implemented by specialpurpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions oracts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer readableprogram code.

Caching System

FIG. 1A depicts one embodiment of a system 100 for managing contents ofa cache 102. The system 100, in the depicted embodiment, includes acache 102 a host device 114, a direct cache module 116, and a backingstore 118. The cache 102, in the depicted embodiment, includes asolid-state storage controller 104, a write data pipeline 106, a readdata pipeline 108, and a solid-state storage media 110. In general, thesystem 100 caches data for the backing store 118 in the cache 102 andthe direct cache module 116 manages contents of the cache 102 tomaximize a read hit rate of the cache 102, a dirty write hit rate of thecache 102, or the like.

The cache 102 has a finite physical storage capacity for caching datafor the backing store 118. In certain embodiments, the direct cachemodule 116 tracks data of the cache 102 in one or more data pools, suchas a read pool, a write pool, a clean pool, a dirty pool, a recent readpool, a frequent read pool, and/or other data pools to optimize the useof the finite storage capacity of the cache 102. A data pool, as usedherein, is a set of data related by one or more data characteristics. Inone embodiment, data pools of the cache 102 only include data that thecache 102 currently stores, and the data pools are sized to fit within astorage capacity of the cache 102. In a further embodiment, the datapools of the cache 102 may include data that the backing store 118stores that the cache 102 does not store, but for which the direct cachemodule 116 maintains metadata, and the data pools may have a combinedsize that is greater than a storage capacity of the cache 102. The datapools of the cache 102, in certain embodiments, may span both data thatthe cache 102 stores and data for which the direct cache module 116maintains metadata but that the cache 102 does not store. The directcache module 116, in one embodiment, tracks data pools as counts ortallies of different types of data, such as read data, write data, cleandata, dirty data, recent data, frequent data, and the like.

The direct cache module 116 may manage contents of the cache 102 bydynamically adjusting sizes of various data pools of the cache 102 tomatch a user's working data set of read data and write data. In variousembodiments, the direct cache module 116 adjusts sizes of data pools byselectively destaging data from the cache 102 to the backing store 118,selectively evicting data from the cache 102, and/or by otherwiseadjusting membership in data pools of the cache 102. For example, in oneembodiment, the direct cache module 116 monitors storage requests forthe cache 102 and adjusts data pool sizes to maximize a read hit rateand a dirty write hit rate for the cache 102.

In the depicted embodiment, the system 100 includes a single cache 102.In another embodiment, the system 100 may include two or more caches102. For example, in various embodiments, the system 100 may mirrorcached data between several caches 102, may virtually stripe cached dataacross multiple caches 102, or otherwise cache data in more than onecache 102. In general, the cache 102 serves as a read and/or a writecache for the backing store 118 and the backing store 118 is a storagedevice that serves as a backing store for the cache 102. In oneembodiment, the cache 102 operates in a write-back mode and the directcache module 116 destages cached write data to the backing store 118opportunistically after caching the write data in the cache 102. Incertain embodiments, the cache 102 may operate, at least temporarily, inanother mode, such as a write-back mode, a write-around mode, or thelike, and the direct cache module 116 may write data to the backingstore 118 substantially simultaneously with caching the data in thecache 102 or without caching the data in the cache 102.

In the depicted embodiment, the cache 102 is embodied by a non-volatile,solid-state storage device, with a solid-state storage controller 104and non-volatile, solid-state storage media 110. The non-volatile,solid-state storage media 110 may include flash memory, nano randomaccess memory (“nano RAM or NRAM”), magneto-resistive RAM (“MRAM”),dynamic RAM (“DRAM”), phase change RAM (“PRAM”), racetrack memory,memristor memory, nanocrystal wire-based memory, silicon-oxide basedsub-10 nanometer process memory, graphene memory,silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (“SONOS”) memory, resistiverandom-access memory (“RRAM”), programmable metallization cell (“PMC”),conductive-bridging RAM (“CBRAM”), or the like. Embodiments of the cache102 that include a solid-state storage controller 104 and solid-statestorage media 110 are described in more detail with respect to FIGS. 2and 3. In further embodiments, the cache 102 may include other types ofnon-volatile and/or volatile data storage, such as dynamic RAM (“DRAM”),static RAM (“SRAM”), magnetic data storage, optical data storage, and/orother data storage technologies.

The cache 102, in one embodiment, stores or preserves data in a log. Thelog, in a further embodiment, comprises a sequential, append-onlylog-based structure, or the like. The cache 102 stores at least aportion of the log on the solid-state storage media 110. The cache 102,in certain embodiments, may store a portion of the log, metadata for thelog, or the like in volatile memory, such as RAM, and may store at leastenough data of the log in the solid-state storage media 110 to recreatethe log structure after an improper shutdown or other failure. In oneembodiment, the log includes a head at an append point and a tail at anend of the log with the oldest data (data written earliest in time). Incertain embodiments, the log may include multiple append points,multiple sub-logs, or the like. In a further embodiment, the cache 102may store or preserve data in multiple logs.

In general, the cache 102 caches data for the backing store 118. Thebacking store 118, in one embodiment, is a backing store associated withthe cache 102 and/or with the direct cache module 116. The backing store118 may include a hard disk drive, an optical drive with optical media,a magnetic tape drive, or another type of storage device. In oneembodiment, the backing store 118 may have a greater data storagecapacity than the cache 102. In another embodiment, the backing store118 may have a higher latency, a lower throughput, or the like, than thecache 102.

The backing store 118 may have a higher latency, a lower throughput, orthe like due to properties of the backing store 118 itself or due toproperties of a connection to the backing store 118. For example, in oneembodiment, the cache 102 and the backing store 118 may each includenon-volatile, solid-state storage media 110 with similar properties, butthe backing store 118 may be in communication with the host device 114over a data network, while the cache 102 may be directly connected tothe host device 114, causing the backing store 118 to have a higherlatency relative to the host 114 than the cache 102.

In one embodiment, the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118 are incommunication with a processor of the host device 114 over one or morecommunications buses. In the depicted embodiment, the cache 102 and thebacking store 118 are in communication with the host device 114 throughthe direct cache module 116. The cache 102 and/or the backing store 118,in one embodiment, may be direct attached storage (“DAS”) of the hostdevice 114. DAS, as used herein, is data storage that is connected to adevice, either internally or externally, without a storage network inbetween.

In one embodiment, the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118 areinternal to the host device 114 and are connected using a system bus,such as a peripheral component interconnect express (“PCI-e”) bus, aSerial Advanced Technology Attachment (“SATA”) bus, or the like. Inanother embodiment, the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118 may beexternal to the host device 114 and may be connected using a universalserial bus (“USB”) connection, an Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (“IEEE”) 1394 bus (“FireWire”), an external SATA(“eSATA”) connection, or the like. In other embodiments, the cache 102and/or the backing store 118 may be connected to the host device 114using a peripheral component interconnect (“PCI”) express bus usingexternal electrical or optical bus extension or bus networking solutionsuch as Infiniband or PCI Express Advanced Switching (“PCIe-AS”), or thelike.

In various embodiments, the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118 maybe in the form of a dual-inline memory module (“DIMM”), a daughter card,or a micro-module. In another embodiment, the cache 102 and/or thebacking store 118 may be elements within a rack-mounted blade. Inanother embodiment, the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118 may becontained within packages that are integrated directly onto a higherlevel assembly (e.g. mother board, lap top, graphics processor). Inanother embodiment, individual components comprising the cache 102and/or the backing store 118 are integrated directly onto a higher levelassembly without intermediate packaging.

In the depicted embodiment, the cache 102 includes one or moresolid-state storage controllers 104 with a write data pipeline 106 and aread data pipeline 108, and a solid-state storage media 110, which aredescribed in more detail below with respect to FIGS. 2 and 3. Thebacking store 118, in the depicted embodiment, includes a backing storecontroller 120. The solid-state storage controller 104 and the backingstore controller 120, in certain embodiments, may receive storagerequests, perform management functions and the like for the cache 102and the backing store 118, or perform other functions. The solid-statestorage controller 104 and/or the backing store controller 120, invarious embodiments, may comprise one or more device drivers installedon the host device 114, logic hardware or firmware of the cache 102and/or the backing store 118, a combination of one or more devicedrivers and logic hardware or firmware, or the like.

In a further embodiment, instead of being connected directly to the hostdevice 114 as DAS, the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118 may beconnected to the host device 114 over a data network. For example, thecache 102 and/or the backing store 118 may include a storage areanetwork (“SAN”) storage device, a network attached storage (“NAS”)device, a network share, or the like. In one embodiment, the system 100may include a data network, such as the Internet, a wide area network(“WAN”), a metropolitan area network (“MAN”), a local area network(“LAN”), a token ring, a wireless network, a fiber channel network, aSAN, a NAS, ESCON, or the like, or any combination of networks. A datanetwork may also include a network from the IEEE 802 family of networktechnologies, such Ethernet, token ring, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, and the like. Adata network may include servers, switches, routers, cabling, radios,and other equipment used to facilitate networking between the hostdevice 114 and the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118.

In one embodiment, at least the cache 102 is connected directly to thehost device 114 as a DAS device. In a further embodiment, the cache 102is directly connected to the host device 114 as a DAS device and thebacking store 118 is directly connected to the cache 102. For example,the cache 102 may be connected directly to the host device 114, and thebacking store 118 may be connected directly to the cache 102 using adirect, wireline connection, such as a PCI express bus, an SATA bus, aUSB connection, an IEEE 1394 connection, an eSATA connection, aproprietary direct connection, an external electrical or optical busextension or bus networking solution such as Infiniband or PCIe-AS, orthe like. One of skill in the art, in light of this disclosure, willrecognize other arrangements and configurations of the host device 114,the cache 102, and the backing store 118 suitable for use in the system100.

The system 100 includes the host device 114 in communication with thecache 102 and the backing store 118 through the direct cache module 116.A host device 114 may be a host, a server, a storage controller of aSAN, a workstation, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a handheldcomputer, a supercomputer, a computer cluster, a network switch, router,or appliance, a database or storage appliance, a data acquisition ordata capture system, a diagnostic system, a test system, a robot, aportable electronic device, a wireless device, or the like.

In the depicted embodiment, the host device 114 is in communication withthe direct cache module 116. The direct cache module 116, in general,receives or otherwise detects read and write requests from the hostdevice 114 directed to the backing store 118 and manages the caching ofdata in the cache 102 and destaging of cached data to the backing store118. In one embodiment, the direct cache module 116 comprises a softwareapplication, file system filter driver, combination of filter drivers,or the like on the host device 114.

In another embodiment, the direct cache module 116 comprises one or morestorage controllers, such as the solid-state storage controller 104 ofthe cache 102 and/or the backing store controller 120 of the backingstore 118. FIG. 1B depicts a system 101 that is substantially similar tothe system 100 of FIG. 1A, but with the storage controller 104 and thebacking store controller 120 integrated with the direct cache module 116as device drivers and/or filter drivers on the host device 114. Thestorage controller 104 and the backing store controller 120 may beintegrated with the direct cache module 116 as device drivers on thehost device 114, as dedicated hardware logic circuits or firmware of thecache 102 and/or the backing store 118, as a combination of one or moredevice drivers and dedicated hardware, or the like. In a furtherembodiment, the direct cache module 116 comprises a combination of oneor more software drivers of the host device 114 and one or more storagecontrollers, or the like. The direct cache module 116, in varioussoftware, hardware, and combined software and hardware embodiments, maygenerally be referred to as a cache controller.

In one embodiment, the host device 114 loads one or more device driversfor the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118 and the direct cachemodule 116 communicates with the one or more device drivers on the hostdevice 114. As described above, in certain embodiments, the solid-statestorage controller 104 of the cache 102 and/or the backing storecontroller 120 may comprise device drivers on the host device 114. Inanother embodiment, the direct cache module 116 may communicate directlywith a hardware interface of the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118.In a further embodiment, the direct cache module 116 may be integratedwith the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118.

In one embodiment, the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118 have blockdevice interfaces that support block device commands. For example, thecache 102 and/or the backing store 118 may support the standard blockdevice interface, the ATA interface standard, the ATA Packet Interface(“ATAPI”) standard, the small computer system interface (“SCSI”)standard, and/or the Fibre Channel standard which are maintained by theInternational Committee for Information Technology Standards (“INCITS”).The direct cache module 116 may interact with the cache 102 and/or thebacking store 118 using block device commands to read, write, and clear(or trim) data. In one embodiment, the solid-state storage controller104 and/or the backing store controller 120 provide block deviceinterfaces to the direct cache module 116.

In one embodiment, the direct cache module 116 serves as a proxy for thebacking store 118, receiving read and write requests for the backingstore 118 directly from the host device 114. The direct cache module 116may represent itself to the host device 114 as a storage device having acapacity similar to and/or matching the capacity of the backing store118. The direct cache module 116, upon receiving a read request or writerequest from the host device 114, in one embodiment, fulfills therequest by caching write data in the cache 102 or by retrieving readdata from one of the cache 102 and the backing store 118 and returningthe read data to the host device 114.

Data caches are typically organized into cache lines which divide up thephysical capacity of the cache, these cache lines may be divided intoseveral sets. A cache line is typically larger than a block or sector ofa backing store associated with a data cache, to provide for prefetchingof additional blocks or sectors and to reduce cache misses and increasethe cache hit rate. Data caches also typically evict an entire, fixedsize, cache line at a time to make room for newly requested data insatisfying a cache miss. Data caches may be direct mapped, fullyassociative, N-way set associative, or the like.

In a direct mapped cache, each block or sector of a backing store has aone-to-one mapping to a cache line in the direct mapped cache. Forexample, if a direct mapped cache has T number of cache lines, thebacking store associated with the direct mapped cache may be dividedinto T sections, and the direct mapped cache caches data from a sectionexclusively in the cache line corresponding to the section. Because adirect mapped cache always caches a block or sector in the same locationor cache line, the mapping between a block or sector address and a cacheline can be a simple manipulation of an address of the block or sector.

In a fully associative cache, any cache line can store data from anyblock or sector of a backing store. A fully associative cache typicallyhas lower cache miss rates than a direct mapped cache, but has longerhit times (i.e., it takes longer to locate data in the cache) than adirect mapped cache. To locate data in a fully associative cache, eithercache tags of the entire cache can be searched, a separate cache indexcan be used, or the like.

In an N-way set associative cache, each sector or block of a backingstore may be cached in any of a set of N different cache lines. Forexample, in a 2-way set associative cache, either of two different cachelines may cache data for a sector or block. In an N-way set associativecache, both the cache and the backing store are typically divided intosections or sets, with one or more sets of sectors or blocks of thebacking store assigned to a set of N cache lines. To locate data in anN-way set associative cache, a block or sector address is typicallymapped to a set of cache lines, and cache tags of the set of cache linesare searched, a separate cache index is searched, or the like todetermine which cache line in the set is storing data for the block orsector. An N-way set associative cache typically has miss rates and hitrates between those of a direct mapped cache and those of a fullyassociative cache.

The cache 102, in one embodiment, may have characteristics of both adirectly mapped cache and a fully associative cache. A logical addressspace of the cache 102, in one embodiment, is directly mapped to anaddress space of the backing store 118 while the physical storage media110 of the cache 102 is fully associative with regard to the backingstore 118. In other words, each block or sector of the backing store118, in one embodiment, is directly mapped to a single logical addressof the cache 102 while any portion of the physical storage media 110 ofthe cache 102 may store data for any block or sector of the backingstore 118. In one embodiment, a logical address is an identifier of ablock of data and is distinct from a physical address of the block ofdata, but may be mapped to the physical address of the block of data.Examples of logical addresses, in various embodiments, include logicalblock addresses (“LBAs”), logical identifiers, object identifiers,pointers, references, and the like.

Instead of traditional cache lines, in one embodiment, the cache 102 haslogical or physical cache data blocks associated with logical addressesthat are equal in size to a block or sector of the backing store 118. Ina further embodiment, the cache 102 caches ranges and/or sets of rangesof blocks or sectors for the backing store 118 at a time, providingdynamic or variable length cache line functionality. A range or set ofranges of blocks or sectors, in a further embodiment, may include amixture of contiguous and/or noncontiguous blocks. For example, thecache 102, in one embodiment, supports block device requests thatinclude a mixture of contiguous and/or noncontiguous blocks and that mayinclude “holes” or intervening blocks that the cache 102 does not cacheor otherwise store.

In one embodiment, one or more groups of logical addresses of the cache102 are directly mapped to corresponding logical addresses of thebacking store 118. Directly mapping logical addresses of the cache 102to logical addresses of the backing store 118, in one embodiment,provides a one-to-one relationship between the logical addresses of thebacking store 118 and the logical addresses of the cache 102. Directlymapping logical addresses of the cache 102 to the logical or physicaladdress space of the backing store 118, in one embodiment, precludes theuse of an extra translation layer in the direct cache module 116, suchas the use of cache tags, a cache index, the maintenance of atranslation data structure, or the like. In one embodiment, while thelogical address space of the cache 102 may be larger than a logicaladdress space of the backing store 118, both logical address spacesinclude at least logical addresses 0-N. In a further embodiment, atleast a portion of the logical address space of the cache 102 representsor appears as the logical address space of the backing store 118 to aclient, such as the host device 114.

Alternatively, in certain embodiments where physical blocks or sectorsof the backing store 118 are directly accessible using physicaladdresses, at least a portion of logical addresses in a logical addressspace of the cache 102 may be mapped to physical addresses of thebacking store 118. At least a portion of the logical address space ofthe cache 102, in one embodiment, may correspond to the physical addressspace of the backing store 118. At least a subset of the logicaladdresses of the cache 102, in this embodiment, is directly mapped tocorresponding physical addresses of the backing store 118.

In one embodiment, the logical address space of the cache 102 is asparse address space that is either as large as or is larger than thephysical storage capacity of the cache 102. This allows the backingstore 118 to have a larger storage capacity than the cache 102, whilemaintaining a direct mapping between the logical addresses of the cache102 and logical or physical addresses of the backing store 118. Thesparse logical address space may be thinly provisioned, in oneembodiment. In a further embodiment, as the direct cache module 116writes data to the cache 102 using logical addresses, the cache 102directly maps the logical addresses to distinct physical addresses orlocations on the solid-state storage media 110 of the cache 102, suchthat the physical addresses or locations of data on the solid-statestorage media 110 are fully associative with the backing store 118.

In one embodiment, the direct cache module 116 and/or the cache 102 usethe same mapping structure to map addresses (either logical or physical)of the backing store 118 to logical addresses of the cache 102 and tomap logical addresses of the cache 102 to locations/physical addressesof a block or sector (or range of blocks or sectors) on the physicalsolid-state storage media 110. In one embodiment, using a single mappingstructure for both functions eliminates the need for a separate cachemap, cache index, cache tags, or the like, decreasing access times ofthe cache 102.

Once the direct cache module 116 has destaged dirty data from the cache102, the data is clean and the direct cache module 116 may clear, trim,replace, expire, and/or evict the data from the cache 102 and thephysical addresses and associated physical storage media 110 may befreed to store data for other logical addresses. In one embodiment, asdescribed above, the solid state storage controller 104 stores data atphysical addresses using a log-based, append-only writing structure suchthat data evicted from the cache 102 or overwritten by a subsequentwrite request invalidates other data in the log. Consequently, a garbagecollection or grooming process recovers the physical capacity of theinvalid data in the log. One embodiment of the log-based, append onlywriting structure is logically ring-like data structure, as new data isappended to the log-based writing structure, previously used physicalcapacity is reused in a circular, theoretically infinite manner.

Solid-State Storage Device

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment 201 of asolid-state storage device controller 202 that includes a write datapipeline 106 and a read data pipeline 108 in a cache 102. Thesolid-state storage device controller 202 may be embodied as hardware,as software, or as a combination of hardware and software.

The solid-state storage device controller 202 may include a number ofsolid-state storage controllers 0-N 104 a-n, each controllingsolid-state storage media 110. In the depicted embodiment, twosolid-state controllers are shown: solid-state controller 0 104 a andsolid-state storage controller N 104 n, and each controls solid-statestorage media 110 a-n. In the depicted embodiment, solid-state storagecontroller 0 104 a controls a data channel so that the attachedsolid-state storage media 110 a stores data. Solid-state storagecontroller N 104 n controls an index metadata channel associated withthe stored data and the associated solid-state storage media 110 nstores index metadata. In an alternate embodiment, the solid-statestorage device controller 202 includes a single solid-state controller104 a with a single solid-state storage media 110 a. In anotherembodiment, there are a plurality of solid-state storage controllers 104a-n and associated solid-state storage media 110 a-n. In one embodiment,one or more solid-state controllers 104 a-104 n-1, coupled to theirassociated solid-state storage media 110 a-110 n-1, control data whileat least one solid-state storage controller 104 n, coupled to itsassociated solid-state storage media 110 n, controls index metadata.

In one embodiment, at least one solid-state controller 104 isfield-programmable gate array (“FPGA”) and controller functions areprogrammed into the FPGA. In a particular embodiment, the FPGA is aXilinx® FPGA. In another embodiment, the solid-state storage controller104 comprises components specifically designed as a solid-state storagecontroller 104, such as an application-specific integrated circuit(“ASIC”) or custom logic solution. Each solid-state storage controller104 typically includes a write data pipeline 106 and a read datapipeline 108, which are describe further in relation to FIG. 3. Inanother embodiment, at least one solid-state storage controller 104 ismade up of a combination FPGA, ASIC, and custom logic components.

Solid-State Storage

The solid-state storage media 110 is an array of non-volatilesolid-state storage elements 216, 218, 220, arranged in banks 214, andaccessed in parallel through a bi-directional storage input/output(“I/O”) bus 210. The storage I/O bus 210, in one embodiment, is capableof unidirectional communication at any one time. For example, when datais being written to the solid-state storage media 110, data cannot beread from the solid-state storage media 110. In another embodiment, datacan flow both directions simultaneously. However bi-directional, as usedherein with respect to a data bus, refers to a data pathway that canhave data flowing in only one direction at a time, but when data flowingone direction on the bi-directional data bus is stopped, data can flowin the opposite direction on the bi-directional data bus.

A solid-state storage element (e.g. SSS 0.0 216 a) is typicallyconfigured as a chip (a package of one or more dies) or a die on acircuit board. As depicted, a solid-state storage element (e.g. 216 a)operates independently or semi-independently of other solid-statestorage elements (e.g. 218 a) even if these several elements arepackaged together in a chip package, a stack of chip packages, or someother package element. As depicted, a column of solid-state storageelements 216, 218, 220 is designated as a bank 214. As depicted, theremay be “n” banks 214 a-n and “m” solid-state storage elements 216 a-m,218 a-m, 220 a-m per bank in an array of n×m solid-state storageelements 216, 218, 220 in a solid-state storage media 110. In oneembodiment, a solid-state storage media 110 a includes twentysolid-state storage elements per bank (e.g. 216 a-m in bank 214 a, 218a-m in bank 214 b, 220 a-m in bank 214 n, where m=22) with eight banks(e.g. 214 a-n where n=8) and a solid-state storage media 110 n includestwo solid-state storage elements (e.g. 216 a-m where m=2) per bank 214with one bank 214 a. There is no requirement that two solid-statestorage media 110 a, 110 n have the same number of solid-state storageelements and/or same number of banks 214. In one embodiment, eachsolid-state storage element 216, 218, 220 is comprised of a single-levelcell (“SLC”) devices. In another embodiment, each solid-state storageelement 216, 218, 220 is comprised of multi-level cell (“MLC”) devices.

In one embodiment, solid-state storage elements for multiple banks thatshare a common storage I/O bus 210 a row (e.g. 216 b, 218 b, 220 b) arepackaged together. In one embodiment, a solid-state storage element 216,218, 220 may have one or more dies per chip with one or more chipsstacked vertically and each die may be accessed independently. Inanother embodiment, a solid-state storage element (e.g. SSS 0.0 216 a)may have one or more virtual dies per die and one or more dies per chipand one or more chips stacked vertically and each virtual die may beaccessed independently. In another embodiment, a solid-state storageelement SSS 0.0 216 a may have one or more virtual dies per die and oneor more dies per chip with some or all of the one or more dies stackedvertically and each virtual die may be accessed independently.

In one embodiment, two dies are stacked vertically with four stacks pergroup to form eight storage elements (e.g. SSS 0.0-SSS 0.8) 216 a-220 a,each in a separate bank 214 a-n. In another embodiment, 20 storageelements (e.g. SSS 0.0-SSS 20.0) 216 form a virtual bank 214 a so thateach of the eight virtual banks has 20 storage elements (e.g. SSS0.0-SSS20.8). Data is sent to the solid-state storage media 110 over thestorage I/O bus 210 to all storage elements of a particular group ofstorage elements (SSS 0.0-SSS 0.8) 216 a, 218 a, 220 a. The storagecontrol bus 212 a is used to select a particular bank (e.g. Bank-0 214a) so that the data received over the storage I/O bus 210 connected toall banks 214 is written just to the selected bank 214 a.

In certain embodiments, the storage control bus 212 and storage I/O bus210 are used together by the solid-state controller 104 to communicateaddressing information, storage element command information, and data tobe stored. Those of skill in the art recognize that this address, data,and command information may be communicated using one or the other ofthese buses 212, 210, or using separate buses for each type of controlinformation. In one embodiment, addressing information, storage elementcommand information, and storage data travel on the storage I/O bus 210and the storage control bus 212 carries signals for activating a bank aswell as identifying whether the data on the storage I/O bus 210 linesconstitute addressing information, storage element command information,or storage data.

For example, a control signal on the storage control bus 212 such as“command enable” may indicate that the data on the storage I/O bus 210lines is a storage element command such as program, erase, reset, read,and the like. A control signal on the storage control bus 212 such as“address enable” may indicate that the data on the storage I/O bus 210lines is addressing information such as erase block identifier, pageidentifier, and optionally offset within the page within a particularstorage element. Finally, an absence of a control signal on the storagecontrol bus 212 for both “command enable” and “address enable” mayindicate that the data on the storage I/O bus 210 lines is storage datathat is to be stored on the storage element at a previously addressederase block, physical page, and optionally offset within the page of aparticular storage element.

In one embodiment, the storage I/O bus 210 is comprised of one or moreindependent I/O buses (“IIOBa-m” comprising 210 a.a-m, 210 n.a-m)wherein the solid-state storage elements within each row share one ofthe independent I/O buses across each solid-state storage element 216,218, 220 in parallel so that all banks 214 are accessed simultaneously.For example, one IIOB 210 a.a of the storage I/O bus 210 may access afirst solid-state storage element 216 a, 218 a, 220 a of each bank 214a-n simultaneously. A second IIOB 210 a.b of the storage I/O bus 210 mayaccess a second solid-state storage element 216 b, 218 b, 220 b of eachbank 214 a-n simultaneously. Each row of solid-state storage elements216, 218, 220 is accessed simultaneously. In one embodiment, wheresolid-state storage elements 216, 218, 220 are multi-level (physicallystacked), all physical levels of the solid-state storage elements 216,218, 220 are accessed simultaneously. As used herein, “simultaneously”also includes near simultaneous access where devices are accessed atslightly different intervals to avoid switching noise. Simultaneously isused in this context to be distinguished from a sequential or serialaccess wherein commands and/or data are sent individually one after theother.

Typically, banks 214 a-n are independently selected using the storagecontrol bus 212. In one embodiment, a bank 214 is selected using a chipenable or chip select. Where both chip select and chip enable areavailable, the storage control bus 212 may select one level of amulti-level solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220 using either ofthe chip select signal and the chip enable signal. In other embodiments,other commands are used by the storage control bus 212 to individuallyselect one level of a multi-level solid-state storage element 216, 218,220. Solid-state storage elements 216, 218, 220 may also be selectedthrough a combination of control and of address information transmittedon storage I/O bus 210 and the storage control bus 212.

In one embodiment, each solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220 ispartitioned into erase blocks and each erase block is partitioned intopages. A typical page is 2000 bytes (“2 kB”). In one example, asolid-state storage element (e.g. SSS0.0) includes two registers and canprogram two pages so that a two-register solid-state storage element hasa page size of 4 kB. A single bank 214 a of 20 solid-state storageelements 216 a-m would then have an 80 kB capacity of pages accessedwith the same address going out of the storage I/O bus 210.

This group of pages in a bank 214 of solid-state storage elements 216,218, 220 of 80 kB may be called a logical or virtual page. Similarly, anerase block of each storage element 216 a-m of a bank 214 a may begrouped to form a logical erase block. In one embodiment, erasing alogical erase block causes a physical erase block (“PEB”) of eachstorage element 216 a-m of a bank 214 a to be erased. In one embodiment,an erase block of pages within a solid-state storage element 216, 218,220 is erased when an erase command is received within a solid-statestorage element 216, 218, 220. In another embodiment, a single physicalerase block on each storage element (e.g. SSS M.N) collectively forms alogical erase block for the solid-state storage media 110 a. In such anembodiment, erasing a logical erase block comprises erasing an eraseblock at the same address within each storage element (e.g. SSS M.N) inthe solid-state storage media 110 a. Whereas the size and number oferase blocks, pages, planes, or other logical and physical divisionswithin a solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220 may change over timewith advancements in technology, it is to be expected that manyembodiments consistent with new configurations are possible and areconsistent with the general description herein.

In one embodiment, data is written in packets to the storage elements.The solid-state controller 104 uses the storage I/O bus 210 and storagecontrol bus 212 to address a particular bank 214, storage element 216,218, 220, physical erase block, physical page, and optionally offsetwithin a physical page for writing the data packet. In one embodiment,the solid-state controller 104 sends the address information for thedata packet by way of the storage I/O bus 210 and signals that the dataon the storage I/O bus 210 is address data by way of particular signalsset on the storage control bus 212. The solid-state controller 104follows the transmission of the address information with transmission ofthe data packet of data that is to be stored. The physical addresscontains enough information for the solid-state storage element 216,218, 220 to direct the data packet to the designated location within thepage.

In one embodiment, the storage I/O bus 210 a.a, connects to each storageelement in a row of storage elements (e.g. SSS 0.0-SSS 0.N 216 a, 218 a,220 a). In such an embodiment, the solid-state controller 104 aactivates a desired bank 214 a using the storage control bus 212 a, suchthat data on storage I/O bus 210 a.a reaches the proper page of a singlestorage element (e.g. SSS 0.0 216 a).

In addition, in certain embodiments, the solid-state controller 104 asimultaneously activates the same bank 214 a using the storage controlbus 212 a, such that different data (a different data packet) on storageI/O bus 210 a.b reaches the proper page of a single storage element onanother row (e.g. SSS 1.0 216 b). In this manner, multiple physicalpages of multiple storage elements 216, 218, 220 may be written tosimultaneously within a single bank 214 to store a logical page.

Similarly, a read command may require a command on the storage controlbus 212 to select a single bank 214 a and the appropriate page withinthat bank 214 a. In one embodiment, a read command reads an entirephysical page from each storage element, and because there are multiplesolid-state storage elements 216, 218, 220 in parallel in a bank 214, anentire logical page is read with a read command. However, the readcommand may be broken into subcommands, as will be explained below withrespect to bank interleave. A logical page may also be accessed in awrite operation.

In one embodiment, a solid-state controller 104 may send an erase blockerase command over all the lines of the storage I/O bus 210 to erase aphysical erase block having a particular erase block address. Inaddition, the solid-state controller 104 may simultaneously activate asingle bank 214 using the storage control bus 212 such that eachphysical erase block in the single activated bank 214 is erased as partof a logical erase block.

In another embodiment, the solid-state controller 104 may send an eraseblock erase command over all the lines of the storage I/O bus 210 toerase a physical erase block having a particular erase block address oneach storage element 216, 218, 220 (SSS 0.0-SSS M.N). These particularphysical erase blocks together may form a logical erase block. Once theaddress of the physical erase blocks is provided to the storage elements216, 218, 220, the solid-state controller 104 may initiate the erasecommand on a bank 214 a by bank 214 b by bank 214 n basis (either inorder or based on some other sequence). Other commands may also be sentto a particular location using a combination of the storage I/O bus 210and the storage control bus 212. One of skill in the art will recognizeother ways to select a particular storage location using thebi-directional storage I/O bus 210 and the storage control bus 212.

In one embodiment, the storage controller 104 sequentially writes dataon the solid-state storage media 110 in a log structured format andwithin one or more physical structures of the storage elements, the datais sequentially stored on the solid-state storage media 110.Sequentially writing data involves the storage controller 104 streamingdata packets into storage write buffers for storage elements, such as achip (a package of one or more dies) or a die on a circuit board. Whenthe storage write buffers are full, the data packets are programmed to adesignated virtual or logical page (“LP”). Data packets then refill thestorage write buffers and, when full, the data packets are written tothe next LP. The next virtual page may be in the same bank 214 a oranother bank (e.g. 214 b). This process continues, LP after LP,typically until a virtual or logical erase block (“LEB”) is filled. LPsand LEBs are described in more detail below.

In another embodiment, the streaming may continue across LEB boundarieswith the process continuing, LEB after LEB. Typically, the storagecontroller 104 sequentially stores data packets in an LEB by order ofprocessing. In one embodiment, where a write data pipeline 106 is used,the storage controller 104 stores packets in the order that they comeout of the write data pipeline 106. This order may be a result of datasegments arriving from a requesting device mixed with packets of validdata that are being read from another storage location as valid data isbeing recovered from another LEB during a recovery operation.

The sequentially stored data, in one embodiment, can serve as a log toreconstruct data indexes and other metadata using information from datapacket headers. For example, in one embodiment, the storage controller104 may reconstruct a storage index by reading headers to determine thedata structure to which each packet belongs and sequence information todetermine where in the data structure the data or metadata belongs. Thestorage controller 104, in one embodiment, uses physical addressinformation for each packet and timestamp or sequence information tocreate a mapping between the physical locations of the packets and thedata structure identifier and data segment sequence. Timestamp orsequence information is used by the storage controller 104 to replay thesequence of changes made to the index and thereby reestablish the mostrecent state.

In one embodiment, erase blocks are time stamped or given a sequencenumber as packets are written and the timestamp or sequence informationof an erase block is used along with information gathered from containerheaders and packet headers to reconstruct the storage index. In anotherembodiment, timestamp or sequence information is written to an eraseblock when the erase block is recovered.

In a read, modify, write operation, data packets associated with thelogical structure are located and read in a read operation. Datasegments of the modified structure that have been modified are notwritten to the location from which they are read. Instead, the modifieddata segments are again converted to data packets and then written tothe next available location in the virtual page currently being written.Index entries for the respective data packets are modified to point tothe packets that contain the modified data segments. The entry orentries in the index for data packets associated with the same logicalstructure that have not been modified will include pointers to originallocation of the unmodified data packets. Thus, if the original logicalstructure is maintained, for example to maintain a previous version ofthe logical structure, the original logical structure will have pointersin the index to all data packets as originally written. The new logicalstructure will have pointers in the index to some of the original datapackets and pointers to the modified data packets in the virtual pagethat is currently being written.

In a copy operation, the index includes an entry for the originallogical structure mapped to a number of packets stored on thesolid-state storage media 110. When a copy is made, a new logicalstructure is created and a new entry is created in the index mapping thenew logical structure to the original packets. The new logical structureis also written to the solid-state storage media 110 with its locationmapped to the new entry in the index. The new logical structure packetsmay be used to identify the packets within the original logicalstructure that are referenced in case changes have been made in theoriginal logical structure that have not been propagated to the copy andthe index is lost or corrupted. In another embodiment, the indexincludes a logical entry for a logical block.

Beneficially, sequentially writing packets facilitates a more even useof the solid-state storage media 110 and allows the solid-storage devicecontroller 202 to monitor storage hot spots and level usage of thevarious virtual pages in the solid-state storage media 110. Sequentiallywriting packets also facilitates a powerful, efficient garbagecollection system, which is described in detail below. One of skill inthe art will recognize other benefits of sequential storage of datapackets.

The system 100 may comprise a log-structured storage system orlog-structured array similar to a log-structured file system and theorder that data is stored may be used to recreate an index. Typically anindex that includes a logical-to-physical mapping is stored in volatilememory. If the index is corrupted or lost, the index may bereconstructed by addressing the solid-state storage media 110 in theorder that the data was written. Within a logical erase block (“LEB”),data is typically stored sequentially by filling a first logical page,then a second logical page, etc. until the LEB is filled. Thesolid-state storage controller 104 then chooses another LEB and theprocess repeats. By maintaining an order that the LEBs were written toand by knowing that each LEB is written sequentially, the index can berebuilt by traversing the solid-state storage media 110 in order frombeginning to end. In other embodiments, if part of the index is storedin non-volatile memory, such as on the solid-state storage media 110,the solid-state storage controller 104 may only need to replay a portionof the solid-state storage media 110 to rebuild a portion of the indexthat was not stored in non-volatile memory. One of skill in the art willrecognize other benefits of sequential storage of data packets.

Solid-State Storage Device Controller

In various embodiments, the solid-state storage device controller 202also includes a data bus 204, a local bus 206, a buffer controller 208,buffers 0-N 222 a-n, a master controller 224, a direct memory access(“DMA”) controller 226, a memory controller 228, a dynamic memory array230, a static random memory array 232, a management controller 234, amanagement bus 236, a bridge 238 to a system bus 240, and miscellaneouslogic 242, which are described below. In other embodiments, the systembus 240 is coupled to one or more network interface cards (“NICs”) 244,some of which may include remote DMA (“RDMA”) controllers 246, one ormore central processing unit (“CPU”) 248, one or more external memorycontrollers 250 and associated external memory arrays 252, one or morestorage controllers 254, peer controllers 256, and application specificprocessors 258, which are described below. The components 244-258connected to the system bus 240 may be located in the host device 114 ormay be other devices.

In one embodiment, the solid-state storage controller(s) 104 communicatedata to the solid-state storage media 110 over a storage I/O bus 210. Ina certain embodiment where the solid-state storage is arranged in banks214 and each bank 214 includes multiple storage elements 216, 218, 220accessible in parallel, the storage I/O bus 210 comprises an array ofbusses, one for each row of storage elements 216, 218, 220 spanning thebanks 214. As used herein, the term “storage I/O bus” may refer to onestorage I/O bus 210 or an array of data independent busses 204. In oneembodiment, each storage I/O bus 210 accessing a row of storage elements(e.g. 216 a, 218 a, 220 a) may include a logical-to-physical mapping forstorage divisions (e.g. erase blocks) accessed in a row of storageelements 216 a, 218 a, 220 a. This mapping allows a logical addressmapped to a physical address of a storage division to be remapped to adifferent storage division if the first storage division fails,partially fails, is inaccessible, or has some other problem. Remappingis explained further in relation to the remapping module 430 of FIG. 4.

Data may also be communicated to the solid-state storage controller(s)104 from a requesting device 155 through the system bus 240, bridge 238,local bus 206, buffer(s) 222, and finally over a data bus 204. The databus 204 typically is connected to one or more buffers 222 a-n controlledwith a buffer controller 208. The buffer controller 208 typicallycontrols transfer of data from the local bus 206 to the buffers 222 andthrough the data bus 204 to the pipeline input buffer 306 and outputbuffer 330. The buffer controller 208 typically controls how dataarriving from a requesting device 155 can be temporarily stored in abuffer 222 and then transferred onto a data bus 204, or vice versa, toaccount for different clock domains, to prevent data collisions, etc.The buffer controller 208 typically works in conjunction with the mastercontroller 224 to coordinate data flow. As data arrives, the data willarrive on the system bus 240, be transferred to the local bus 206through a bridge 238.

Typically the data is transferred from the local bus 206 to one or moredata buffers 222 as directed by the master controller 224 and the buffercontroller 208. The data then flows out of the buffer(s) 222 to the databus 204, through a solid-state controller 104, and on to the solid-statestorage media 110 such as NAND flash or other storage media. In oneembodiment, data and associated out-of-band metadata (“metadata”)arriving with the data is communicated using one or more data channelscomprising one or more solid-state storage controllers 104 a-104 n-1 andassociated solid-state storage media 110 a-110 n-1 while at least onechannel (solid-state storage controller 104 n, solid-state storage media110 n) is dedicated to in-band metadata, such as index information andother metadata generated internally to the cache 102.

The local bus 206 is typically a bidirectional bus or set of busses thatallows for communication of data and commands between devices internalto the solid-state storage device controller 202 and between devicesinternal to the cache 102 and devices 244-258 connected to the systembus 240. The bridge 238 facilitates communication between the local bus206 and system bus 240. One of skill in the art will recognize otherembodiments such as ring structures or switched star configurations andfunctions of buses 240, 206, 204 and bridges 238.

The system bus 240 is typically a bus of a host device 114 or otherdevice in which the cache 102 is installed or connected. In oneembodiment, the system bus 240 may be a PCI-e bus, a Serial AdvancedTechnology Attachment (“serial ATA”) bus, parallel ATA, or the like. Inanother embodiment, the system bus 240 is an external bus such as smallcomputer system interface (“SCSI”), FireWire, Fiber Channel, USB,PCIe-AS, or the like. The cache 102 may be packaged to fit internally toa device or as an externally connected device.

The solid-state storage device controller 202 includes a mastercontroller 224 that controls higher-level functions within the cache102. The master controller 224, in various embodiments, controls dataflow by interpreting requests, directs creation of indexes to mapidentifiers associated with data to physical locations of associateddata, coordinating DMA requests, etc. Many of the functions describedherein are controlled wholly or in part by the master controller 224.

In one embodiment, the master controller 224 uses embeddedcontroller(s). In another embodiment, the master controller 224 useslocal memory such as a dynamic memory array 230 (dynamic random accessmemory “DRAM”), a static memory array 232 (static random access memory“SRAM”), etc. In one embodiment, the local memory is controlled usingthe master controller 224. In another embodiment, the master controller224 accesses the local memory via a memory controller 228. In anotherembodiment, the master controller 224 runs a Linux server and maysupport various common server interfaces, such as the World Wide Web,hyper-text markup language (“HTML”), etc. In another embodiment, themaster controller 224 uses a nano-processor. The master controller 224may be constructed using programmable or standard logic, or anycombination of controller types listed above. The master controller 224may be embodied as hardware, as software, or as a combination ofhardware and software. One skilled in the art will recognize manyembodiments for the master controller 224.

In one embodiment, where the storage controller 152/solid-state storagedevice controller 202 manages multiple data storage devices/solid-statestorage media 110 a-n, the master controller 224 divides the work loadamong internal controllers, such as the solid-state storage controllers104 a-n. For example, the master controller 224 may divide a datastructure to be written to the data storage devices (e.g. solid-statestorage media 110 a-n) so that a portion of the data structure is storedon each of the attached data storage devices. This feature is aperformance enhancement allowing quicker storage and access to a datastructure. In one embodiment, the master controller 224 is implementedusing an FPGA. In another embodiment, the firmware within the mastercontroller 224 may be updated through the management bus 236, the systembus 240 over a network connected to a NIC 244 or other device connectedto the system bus 240.

In one embodiment, the master controller 224 emulates block storage suchthat a host device 114 or other device connected to the storagedevice/cache 102 views the storage device/cache 102 as a block storagedevice and sends data to specific physical or logical addresses in thestorage device/cache 102. The master controller 224 then divides up theblocks and stores the data blocks. The master controller 224 then mapsthe blocks and physical or logical address sent with the block to theactual locations determined by the master controller 224. The mapping isstored in the index. Typically, for block emulation, a block deviceapplication program interface (“API”) is provided in a driver in thehost device 114, or other device wishing to use the storage device/cache102 as a block storage device.

In another embodiment, the master controller 224 coordinates with NICcontrollers 244 and embedded RDMA controllers 246 to deliverjust-in-time RDMA transfers of data and command sets. NIC controller 244may be hidden behind a non-transparent port to enable the use of customdrivers. Also, a driver on a host device 114 may have access to acomputer network through an I/O memory driver using a standard stack APIand operating in conjunction with NICs 244.

In one embodiment, the master controller 224 is also a redundant arrayof independent drive (“RAID”) controller. Where the data storagedevice/cache 102 is networked with one or more other data storagedevices, the master controller 224 may be a RAID controller for singletier RAID, multi-tier RAID, progressive RAID, etc. The master controller224 may also allows some objects and other data structures to be storedin a RAID array and other data structures to be stored without RAID. Inanother embodiment, the master controller 224 may be a distributed RAIDcontroller element. In another embodiment, the master controller 224 maycomprise many RAID, distributed RAID, and other functions as describedelsewhere.

In one embodiment, the master controller 224 coordinates with single orredundant network managers (e.g. switches) to establish routing, tobalance bandwidth utilization, failover, etc. In another embodiment, themaster controller 224 coordinates with integrated application specificlogic (via local bus 206) and associated driver software. In anotherembodiment, the master controller 224 coordinates with attachedapplication specific processors 258 or logic (via the external systembus 240) and associated driver software. In another embodiment, themaster controller 224 coordinates with remote application specific logic(via a computer network) and associated driver software. In anotherembodiment, the master controller 224 coordinates with the local bus 206or external bus attached hard disk drive (“HDD”) storage controller.

In one embodiment, the master controller 224 communicates with one ormore storage controllers 254 where the storage device/cache 102 mayappear as a storage device connected through a SCSI bus, Internet SCSI(“iSCSI”), fiber channel, etc. Meanwhile the storage device/cache 102may autonomously manage objects or other data structures and may appearas an object file system or distributed object file system. The mastercontroller 224 may also be accessed by peer controllers 256 and/orapplication specific processors 258.

In another embodiment, the master controller 224 coordinates with anautonomous integrated management controller to periodically validateFPGA code and/or controller software, validate FPGA code while running(reset) and/or validate controller software during power on (reset),support external reset requests, support reset requests due to watchdogtimeouts, and support voltage, current, power, temperature, and otherenvironmental measurements and setting of threshold interrupts. Inanother embodiment, the master controller 224 manages garbage collectionto free erase blocks for reuse. In another embodiment, the mastercontroller 224 manages wear leveling. In another embodiment, the mastercontroller 224 allows the data storage device/cache 102 to bepartitioned into multiple virtual devices and allows partition-basedmedia encryption. In yet another embodiment, the master controller 224supports a solid-state storage controller 104 with advanced, multi-bitECC correction. One of skill in the art will recognize other featuresand functions of a master controller 224 in a storage controller 152, ormore specifically in a cache 102.

In one embodiment, the solid-state storage device controller 202includes a memory controller 228 which controls a dynamic random memoryarray 230 and/or a static random memory array 232. As stated above, thememory controller 228 may be independent or integrated with the mastercontroller 224. The memory controller 228 typically controls volatilememory of some type, such as DRAM (dynamic random memory array 230) andSRAM (static random memory array 232). In other examples, the memorycontroller 228 also controls other memory types such as electricallyerasable programmable read only memory (“EEPROM”), etc. In otherembodiments, the memory controller 228 controls two or more memory typesand the memory controller 228 may include more than one controller.Typically, the memory controller 228 controls as much SRAM 232 as isfeasible and by DRAM 230 to supplement the SRAM 232.

In one embodiment, the logical-to-physical index is stored in memory230, 232 and then periodically off-loaded to a channel of thesolid-state storage media 110 n or other non-volatile memory. One ofskill in the art will recognize other uses and configurations of thememory controller 228, dynamic memory array 230, and static memory array232.

In one embodiment, the solid-state storage device controller 202includes a DMA controller 226 that controls DMA operations between thestorage device/cache 102 and one or more external memory controllers 250and associated external memory arrays 252 and CPUs 248. Note that theexternal memory controllers 250 and external memory arrays 252 arecalled external because they are external to the storage device/cache102. In addition the DMA controller 226 may also control RDMA operationswith requesting devices through a NIC 244 and associated RDMA controller246.

In one embodiment, the solid-state storage device controller 202includes a management controller 234 connected to a management bus 236.Typically the management controller 234 manages environmental metricsand status of the storage device/cache 102. The management controller234 may monitor device temperature, fan speed, power supply settings,etc. over the management bus 236. The management controller 234 maysupport the reading and programming of erasable programmable read onlymemory (“EEPROM”) for storage of FPGA code and controller software.Typically the management bus 236 is connected to the various componentswithin the storage device/cache 102. The management controller 234 maycommunicate alerts, interrupts, etc. over the local bus 206 or mayinclude a separate connection to a system bus 240 or other bus. In oneembodiment the management bus 236 is an Inter-Integrated Circuit (“I²C”)bus. One of skill in the art will recognize other related functions anduses of a management controller 234 connected to components of thestorage device/cache 102 by a management bus 236.

In one embodiment, the solid-state storage device controller 202includes miscellaneous logic 242 that may be customized for a specificapplication. Typically where the solid-state device controller 202 ormaster controller 224 is/are configured using a FPGA or otherconfigurable controller, custom logic may be included based on aparticular application, customer requirement, storage requirement, etc.

Data Pipeline

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment 300 of asolid-state storage controller 104 with a write data pipeline 106 and aread data pipeline 108 in a cache 102. The embodiment 300 includes adata bus 204, a local bus 206, and buffer control 208, which aresubstantially similar to those described in relation to the solid-statestorage device controller 202 of FIG. 2. The write data pipeline 106includes a packetizer 302 and an error-correcting code (“ECC”) generator304. In other embodiments, the write data pipeline 106 includes an inputbuffer 306, a write synchronization buffer 308, a write program module310, a compression module 312, an encryption module 314, a garbagecollector bypass 316 (with a portion within the read data pipeline 108),a media encryption module 318, and a write buffer 320. The read datapipeline 108 includes a read synchronization buffer 328, an ECCcorrection module 322, a depacketizer 324, an alignment module 326, andan output buffer 330. In other embodiments, the read data pipeline 108may include a media decryption module 332, a portion of the garbagecollector bypass 316, a decryption module 334, a decompression module336, and a read program module 338. The solid-state storage controller104 may also include control and status registers 340 and control queues342, a bank interleave controller 344, a synchronization buffer 346, astorage bus controller 348, and a multiplexer (“MUX”) 350. Thecomponents of the solid-state controller 104 and associated write datapipeline 106 and read data pipeline 108 are described below. In otherembodiments, synchronous solid-state storage media 110 may be used andsynchronization buffers 308 328 may be eliminated.

Write Data Pipeline

The write data pipeline 106 includes a packetizer 302 that receives adata or metadata segment to be written to the solid-state storage,either directly or indirectly through another write data pipeline 106stage, and creates one or more packets sized for the solid-state storagemedia 110. The data or metadata segment is typically part of a datastructure such as an object, but may also include an entire datastructure. In another embodiment, the data segment is part of a block ofdata, but may also include an entire block of data. Typically, a set ofdata such as a data structure is received from a computer such as thehost device 114, or other computer or device and is transmitted to thecache 102 in data segments streamed to the cache 102 and/or the hostdevice 114. A data segment may also be known by another name, such asdata parcel, but as referenced herein includes all or a portion of adata structure or data block.

Each data structure is stored as one or more packets. Each datastructure may have one or more container packets. Each packet contains aheader. The header may include a header type field. Type fields mayinclude data, attribute, metadata, data segment delimiters(multi-packet), data structures, data linkages, and the like. The headermay also include information regarding the size of the packet, such asthe number of bytes of data included in the packet. The length of thepacket may be established by the packet type. The header may includeinformation that establishes the relationship of the packet to a datastructure. An example might be the use of an offset in a data packetheader to identify the location of the data segment within the datastructure. One of skill in the art will recognize other information thatmay be included in a header added to data by a packetizer 302 and otherinformation that may be added to a data packet.

Each packet includes a header and possibly data from the data ormetadata segment. The header of each packet includes pertinentinformation to relate the packet to the data structure to which thepacket belongs. For example, the header may include an object identifieror other data structure identifier and offset that indicate the datasegment, object, data structure or data block from which the data packetwas formed. The header may also include a logical address used by thestorage bus controller 348 to store the packet. The header may alsoinclude information regarding the size of the packet, such as the numberof bytes included in the packet. The header may also include a sequencenumber that identifies where the data segment belongs with respect toother packets within the data structure when reconstructing the datasegment or data structure. The header may include a header type field.Type fields may include data, data structure attributes, metadata, datasegment delimiters (multi-packet), data structure types, data structurelinkages, and the like. One of skill in the art will recognize otherinformation that may be included in a header added to data or metadataby a packetizer 302 and other information that may be added to a packet.

The write data pipeline 106 includes an ECC generator 304 that thatgenerates one or more error-correcting codes (“ECC”) for the one or morepackets received from the packetizer 302. The ECC generator 304typically uses an error correcting algorithm to generate ECC check bitswhich are stored with the one or more data packets. The ECC codesgenerated by the ECC generator 304 together with the one or more datapackets associated with the ECC codes comprise an ECC chunk. The ECCdata stored with the one or more data packets is used to detect and tocorrect errors introduced into the data through transmission andstorage. In one embodiment, packets are streamed into the ECC generator304 as un-encoded blocks of length N. A syndrome of length S iscalculated, appended and output as an encoded block of length N+S. Thevalue of N and S are dependent upon the characteristics of the algorithmwhich is selected to achieve specific performance, efficiency, androbustness metrics. In one embodiment, there is no fixed relationshipbetween the ECC blocks and the packets; the packet may comprise morethan one ECC block; the ECC block may comprise more than one packet; anda first packet may end anywhere within the ECC block and a second packetmay begin after the end of the first packet within the same ECC block.In one embodiment, ECC algorithms are not dynamically modified. In oneembodiment, the ECC data stored with the data packets is robust enoughto correct errors in more than two bits.

Beneficially, using a robust ECC algorithm allowing more than single bitcorrection or even double bit correction allows the life of thesolid-state storage media 110 to be extended. For example, if flashmemory is used as the storage medium in the solid-state storage media110, the flash memory may be written approximately 100,000 times withouterror per erase cycle. This usage limit may be extended using a robustECC algorithm. Having the ECC generator 304 and corresponding ECCcorrection module 322 onboard the cache 102, the cache 102 caninternally correct errors and has a longer useful life than if a lessrobust ECC algorithm is used, such as single bit correction. However, inother embodiments the ECC generator 304 may use a less robust algorithmand may correct single-bit or double-bit errors. In another embodiment,the solid-state storage device 110 may comprise less reliable storagesuch as multi-level cell (“MLC”) flash in order to increase capacity,which storage may not be sufficiently reliable without more robust ECCalgorithms.

In one embodiment, the write pipeline 106 includes an input buffer 306that receives a data segment to be written to the solid-state storagemedia 110 and stores the incoming data segments until the next stage ofthe write data pipeline 106, such as the packetizer 302 (or other stagefor a more complex write data pipeline 106) is ready to process the nextdata segment. The input buffer 306 typically allows for discrepanciesbetween the rate data segments are received and processed by the writedata pipeline 106 using an appropriately sized data buffer. The inputbuffer 306 also allows the data bus 204 to transfer data to the writedata pipeline 106 at rates greater than can be sustained by the writedata pipeline 106 in order to improve efficiency of operation of thedata bus 204. Typically when the write data pipeline 106 does notinclude an input buffer 306, a buffering function is performedelsewhere, such as in the cache 102, but outside the write data pipeline106, in the host device 114, such as within a network interface card(“NIC”), or at another device, for example when using remote directmemory access (“RDMA”).

In another embodiment, the write data pipeline 106 also includes a writesynchronization buffer 308 that buffers packets received from the ECCgenerator 304 prior to writing the packets to the solid-state storagemedia 110. The write synch buffer 308 is located at a boundary between alocal clock domain and a solid-state storage clock domain and providesbuffering to account for the clock domain differences. In otherembodiments, synchronous solid-state storage media 110 may be used andsynchronization buffers 308 328 may be eliminated.

In one embodiment, the write data pipeline 106 also includes a mediaencryption module 318 that receives the one or more packets from thepacketizer 302, either directly or indirectly, and encrypts the one ormore packets using an encryption key unique to the cache 102 prior tosending the packets to the ECC generator 304. Typically, the entirepacket is encrypted, including the headers. In another embodiment,headers are not encrypted. In this document, encryption key isunderstood to mean a secret encryption key that is managed externallyfrom a solid-state storage controller 104.

The media encryption module 318 and corresponding media decryptionmodule 332 provide a level of security for data stored in thesolid-state storage media 110. For example, where data is encrypted withthe media encryption module 318, if the solid-state storage media 110 isconnected to a different solid-state storage controller 104, cache 102,or server, the contents of the solid-state storage media 110 typicallycould not be read without use of the same encryption key used during thewrite of the data to the solid-state storage media 110 withoutsignificant effort.

In a typical embodiment, the cache 102 does not store the encryption keyin non-volatile storage and allows no external access to the encryptionkey. The encryption key is provided to the solid-state storagecontroller 104 during initialization. The cache 102 may use and store anon-secret cryptographic nonce that is used in conjunction with anencryption key. A different nonce may be stored with every packet. Datasegments may be split between multiple packets with unique nonces forthe purpose of improving protection by the encryption algorithm.

The encryption key may be received from a host device 114, a server, keymanager, or other device that manages the encryption key to be used bythe solid-state storage controller 104. In another embodiment, thesolid-state storage media 110 may have two or more partitions and thesolid-state storage controller 104 behaves as though it was two or moresolid-state storage controllers 104, each operating on a singlepartition within the solid-state storage media 110. In this embodiment,a unique media encryption key may be used with each partition.

In another embodiment, the write data pipeline 106 also includes anencryption module 314 that encrypts a data or metadata segment receivedfrom the input buffer 306, either directly or indirectly, prior sendingthe data segment to the packetizer 302, the data segment encrypted usingan encryption key received in conjunction with the data segment. Theencryption keys used by the encryption module 314 to encrypt data maynot be common to all data stored within the cache 102 but may vary on aper-data-structure basis and received in conjunction with receiving datasegments as described below. For example, an encryption key for a datasegment to be encrypted by the encryption module 314 may be receivedwith the data segment or may be received as part of a command to write adata structure to which the data segment belongs. The cache 102 may useand store a non-secret cryptographic nonce in each data structure packetthat is used in conjunction with the encryption key. A different noncemay be stored with every packet. Data segments may be split betweenmultiple packets with unique nonces for the purpose of improvingprotection by the encryption algorithm.

The encryption key may be received from a host device 114, a computer,key manager, or other device that holds the encryption key to be used toencrypt the data segment. In one embodiment, encryption keys aretransferred to the solid-state storage controller 104 from one of acache 102, a computer, a host device 114, or other external agent whichhas the ability to execute industry standard methods to securelytransfer and protect private and public keys.

In one embodiment, the encryption module 314 encrypts a first packetwith a first encryption key received in conjunction with the packet andencrypts a second packet with a second encryption key received inconjunction with the second packet. In another embodiment, theencryption module 314 encrypts a first packet with a first encryptionkey received in conjunction with the packet and passes a second datapacket on to the next stage without encryption. Beneficially, theencryption module 314 included in the write data pipeline 106 of thecache 102 allows data structure-by-data structure or segment-by-segmentdata encryption without a single file system or other external system tokeep track of the different encryption keys used to store correspondingdata structures or data segments. Each requesting device 155 or relatedkey manager independently manages encryption keys used to encrypt onlythe data structures or data segments sent by the requesting device 155.

In one embodiment, the encryption module 314 may encrypt the one or morepackets using an encryption key unique to the cache 102. The encryptionmodule 314 may perform this media encryption independently, or inaddition to the encryption described above. Typically, the entire packetis encrypted, including the headers. In another embodiment, headers arenot encrypted. The media encryption by the encryption module 314provides a level of security for data stored in the solid-state storagemedia 110. For example, where data is encrypted with media encryptionunique to the specific cache 102 if the solid-state storage media 110 isconnected to a different solid-state storage controller 104, cache 102,or host device 114, the contents of the solid-state storage media 110typically could not be read without use of the same encryption key usedduring the write of the data to the solid-state storage media 110without significant effort.

In another embodiment, the write data pipeline 106 includes acompression module 312 that compresses the data for metadata segmentprior to sending the data segment to the packetizer 302. The compressionmodule 312 typically compresses a data or metadata segment using acompression routine known to those of skill in the art to reduce thestorage size of the segment. For example, if a data segment includes astring of 512 zeros, the compression module 312 may replace the 512zeros with code or token indicating the 512 zeros where the code is muchmore compact than the space taken by the 512 zeros.

In one embodiment, the compression module 312 compresses a first segmentwith a first compression routine and passes along a second segmentwithout compression. In another embodiment, the compression module 312compresses a first segment with a first compression routine andcompresses the second segment with a second compression routine. Havingthis flexibility within the cache 102 is beneficial so that the hostdevice 114 or other devices writing data to the cache 102 may eachspecify a compression routine or so that one can specify a compressionroutine while another specifies no compression. Selection of compressionroutines may also be selected according to default settings on a perdata structure type or data structure class basis. For example, a firstdata structure of a specific data structure may be able to overridedefault compression routine settings and a second data structure of thesame data structure class and data structure type may use the defaultcompression routine and a third data structure of the same datastructure class and data structure type may use no compression.

In one embodiment, the write data pipeline 106 includes a garbagecollector bypass 316 that receives data segments from the read datapipeline 108 as part of a data bypass in a garbage collection system. Agarbage collection system typically marks packets that are no longervalid, typically because the packet is marked for deletion or has beenmodified and the modified data is stored in a different location. Atsome point, the garbage collection system determines that a particularsection of storage may be recovered. This determination may be due to alack of available storage capacity, the percentage of data marked asinvalid reaching a threshold, a consolidation of valid data, an errordetection rate for that section of storage reaching a threshold, orimproving performance based on data distribution, etc. Numerous factorsmay be considered by a garbage collection algorithm to determine when asection of storage is to be recovered.

Once a section of storage has been marked for recovery, valid packets inthe section typically must be relocated. The garbage collector bypass316 allows packets to be read into the read data pipeline 108 and thentransferred directly to the write data pipeline 106 without being routedout of the solid-state storage controller 104. In one embodiment, thegarbage collector bypass 316 is part of an autonomous garbage collectorsystem that operates within the cache 102. This allows the cache 102 tomanage data so that data is systematically spread throughout thesolid-state storage media 110 to improve performance, data reliabilityand to avoid overuse and underuse of any one location or area of thesolid-state storage media 110 and to lengthen the useful life of thesolid-state storage media 110.

The garbage collector bypass 316 coordinates insertion of segments intothe write data pipeline 106 with other segments being written by a hostdevice 114 or other devices. In the depicted embodiment, the garbagecollector bypass 316 is before the packetizer 302 in the write datapipeline 106 and after the depacketizer 324 in the read data pipeline108, but may also be located elsewhere in the read and write datapipelines 106, 108. The garbage collector bypass 316 may be used duringa flush of the write data pipeline 106 to fill the remainder of thevirtual page in order to improve the efficiency of storage within thesolid-state storage media 110 and thereby reduce the frequency ofgarbage collection.

In one embodiment, the write data pipeline 106 includes a write buffer320 that buffers data for efficient write operations. Typically, thewrite buffer 320 includes enough capacity for packets to fill at leastone virtual page in the solid-state storage media 110. This allows awrite operation to send an entire page of data to the solid-statestorage media 110 without interruption. By sizing the write buffer 320of the write data pipeline 106 and buffers within the read data pipeline108 to be the same capacity or larger than a storage write buffer withinthe solid-state storage media 110, writing and reading data is moreefficient since a single write command may be crafted to send a fullvirtual page of data to the solid-state storage media 110 instead ofmultiple commands.

While the write buffer 320 is being filled, the solid-state storagemedia 110 may be used for other read operations. This is advantageousbecause other solid-state devices with a smaller write buffer or nowrite buffer may tie up the solid-state storage when data is written toa storage write buffer and data flowing into the storage write bufferstalls. Read operations will be blocked until the entire storage writebuffer is filled and programmed. Another approach for systems without awrite buffer or a small write buffer is to flush the storage writebuffer that is not full in order to enable reads. Again this isinefficient because multiple write/program cycles are required to fill apage.

For depicted embodiment with a write buffer 320 sized larger than avirtual page, a single write command, which includes numeroussubcommands, can then be followed by a single program command totransfer the page of data from the storage write buffer in eachsolid-state storage element 216, 218, 220 to the designated page withineach solid-state storage element 216, 218, 220. This technique has thebenefits of eliminating partial page programming, which is known toreduce data reliability and durability and freeing up the destinationbank for reads and other commands while the buffer fills.

In one embodiment, the write buffer 320 is a ping-pong buffer where oneside of the buffer is filled and then designated for transfer at anappropriate time while the other side of the ping-pong buffer is beingfilled. In another embodiment, the write buffer 320 includes a first-infirst-out (“FIFO”) register with a capacity of more than a virtual pageof data segments. One of skill in the art will recognize other writebuffer 320 configurations that allow a virtual page of data to be storedprior to writing the data to the solid-state storage media 110.

In another embodiment, the write buffer 320 is sized smaller than avirtual page so that less than a page of information could be written toa storage write buffer in the solid-state storage media 110. In theembodiment, to prevent a stall in the write data pipeline 106 fromholding up read operations, data is queued using the garbage collectionsystem that needs to be moved from one location to another as part ofthe garbage collection process. In case of a data stall in the writedata pipeline 106, the data can be fed through the garbage collectorbypass 316 to the write buffer 320 and then on to the storage writebuffer in the solid-state storage media 110 to fill the pages of avirtual page prior to programming the data. In this way a data stall inthe write data pipeline 106 would not stall reading from the cache 102.

In another embodiment, the write data pipeline 106 includes a writeprogram module 310 with one or more user-definable functions within thewrite data pipeline 106. The write program module 310 allows a user tocustomize the write data pipeline 106. A user may customize the writedata pipeline 106 based on a particular data requirement or application.Where the solid-state storage controller 104 is an FPGA, the user mayprogram the write data pipeline 106 with custom commands and functionsrelatively easily. A user may also use the write program module 310 toinclude custom functions with an ASIC, however, customizing an ASIC maybe more difficult than with an FPGA. The write program module 310 mayinclude buffers and bypass mechanisms to allow a first data segment toexecute in the write program module 310 while a second data segment maycontinue through the write data pipeline 106. In another embodiment, thewrite program module 310 may include a processor core that can beprogrammed through software.

Note that the write program module 310 is shown between the input buffer306 and the compression module 312, however, the write program module310 could be anywhere in the write data pipeline 106 and may bedistributed among the various stages 302-320. In addition, there may bemultiple write program modules 310 distributed among the various states302-320 that are programmed and operate independently. In addition, theorder of the stages 302-320 may be altered. One of skill in the art willrecognize workable alterations to the order of the stages 302-320 basedon particular user requirements.

Read Data Pipeline

The read data pipeline 108 includes an ECC correction module 322 thatdetermines if a data error exists in ECC blocks a requested packetreceived from the solid-state storage media 110 by using ECC stored witheach ECC block of the requested packet. The ECC correction module 322then corrects any errors in the requested packet if any error exists andthe errors are correctable using the ECC. For example, if the ECC candetect an error in six bits but can only correct three bit errors, theECC correction module 322 corrects ECC blocks of the requested packetwith up to three bits in error. The ECC correction module 322 correctsthe bits in error by changing the bits in error to the correct one orzero state so that the requested data packet is identical to when it waswritten to the solid-state storage media 110 and the ECC was generatedfor the packet.

If the ECC correction module 322 determines that the requested packetscontains more bits in error than the ECC can correct, the ECC correctionmodule 322 cannot correct the errors in the corrupted ECC blocks of therequested packet and sends an interrupt. In one embodiment, the ECCcorrection module 322 sends an interrupt with a message indicating thatthe requested packet is in error. The message may include informationthat the ECC correction module 322 cannot correct the errors or theinability of the ECC correction module 322 to correct the errors may beimplied. In another embodiment, the ECC correction module 322 sends thecorrupted ECC blocks of the requested packet with the interrupt and/orthe message.

In one embodiment, a corrupted ECC block or portion of a corrupted ECCblock of the requested packet that cannot be corrected by the ECCcorrection module 322 is read by the master controller 224, corrected,and returned to the ECC correction module 322 for further processing bythe read data pipeline 108. In one embodiment, a corrupted ECC block orportion of a corrupted ECC block of the requested packet is sent to thedevice requesting the data. The requesting device 155 may correct theECC block or replace the data using another copy, such as a backup ormirror copy, and then may use the replacement data of the requested datapacket or return it to the read data pipeline 108. The requesting device155 may use header information in the requested packet in error toidentify data required to replace the corrupted requested packet or toreplace the data structure to which the packet belongs. In anotherembodiment, the solid-state storage controller 104 stores data usingsome type of RAID and is able to recover the corrupted data. In anotherembodiment, the ECC correction module 322 sends an interrupt and/ormessage and the receiving device fails the read operation associatedwith the requested data packet. One of skill in the art will recognizeother options and actions to be taken as a result of the ECC correctionmodule 322 determining that one or more ECC blocks of the requestedpacket are corrupted and that the ECC correction module 322 cannotcorrect the errors.

The read data pipeline 108 includes a depacketizer 324 that receives ECCblocks of the requested packet from the ECC correction module 322,directly or indirectly, and checks and removes one or more packetheaders. The depacketizer 324 may validate the packet headers bychecking packet identifiers, data length, data location, etc. within theheaders. In one embodiment, the header includes a hash code that can beused to validate that the packet delivered to the read data pipeline 108is the requested packet. The depacketizer 324 also removes the headersfrom the requested packet added by the packetizer 302. The depacketizer324 may directed to not operate on certain packets but pass theseforward without modification. An example might be a container label thatis requested during the course of a rebuild process where the headerinformation is required for index reconstruction. Further examplesinclude the transfer of packets of various types destined for use withinthe cache 102. In another embodiment, the depacketizer 324 operation maybe packet type dependent.

The read data pipeline 108 includes an alignment module 326 thatreceives data from the depacketizer 324 and removes unwanted data. Inone embodiment, a read command sent to the solid-state storage media 110retrieves a packet of data. A device requesting the data may not requireall data within the retrieved packet and the alignment module 326removes the unwanted data. If all data within a retrieved page isrequested data, the alignment module 326 does not remove any data.

The alignment module 326 re-formats the data as data segments of a datastructure in a form compatible with a device requesting the data segmentprior to forwarding the data segment to the next stage. Typically, asdata is processed by the read data pipeline 108, the size of datasegments or packets changes at various stages. The alignment module 326uses received data to format the data into data segments suitable to besent to the requesting device 155 and joined to form a response. Forexample, data from a portion of a first data packet may be combined withdata from a portion of a second data packet. If a data segment is largerthan a data requested by the requesting device 155, the alignment module326 may discard the unwanted data.

In one embodiment, the read data pipeline 108 includes a readsynchronization buffer 328 that buffers one or more requested packetsread from the solid-state storage media 110 prior to processing by theread data pipeline 108. The read synchronization buffer 328 is at theboundary between the solid-state storage clock domain and the local busclock domain and provides buffering to account for the clock domaindifferences.

In another embodiment, the read data pipeline 108 includes an outputbuffer 330 that receives requested packets from the alignment module 326and stores the packets prior to transmission to the requesting device155. The output buffer 330 accounts for differences between when datasegments are received from stages of the read data pipeline 108 and whenthe data segments are transmitted to other parts of the solid-statestorage controller 104 or to the requesting device 155. The outputbuffer 330 also allows the data bus 204 to receive data from the readdata pipeline 108 at rates greater than can be sustained by the readdata pipeline 108 in order to improve efficiency of operation of thedata bus 204.

In one embodiment, the read data pipeline 108 includes a mediadecryption module 332 that receives one or more encrypted requestedpackets from the ECC correction module 322 and decrypts the one or morerequested packets using the encryption key unique to the cache 102 priorto sending the one or more requested packets to the depacketizer 324.Typically the encryption key used to decrypt data by the mediadecryption module 332 is identical to the encryption key used by themedia encryption module 318. In another embodiment, the solid-statestorage media 110 may have two or more partitions and the solid-statestorage controller 104 behaves as though it was two or more solid-statestorage controllers 104 each operating on a single partition within thesolid-state storage media 110. In this embodiment, a unique mediaencryption key may be used with each partition.

In another embodiment, the read data pipeline 108 includes a decryptionmodule 334 that decrypts a data segment formatted by the depacketizer324 prior to sending the data segment to the output buffer 330. The datasegment may be decrypted using an encryption key received in conjunctionwith the read request that initiates retrieval of the requested packetreceived by the read synchronization buffer 328. The decryption module334 may decrypt a first packet with an encryption key received inconjunction with the read request for the first packet and then maydecrypt a second packet with a different encryption key or may pass thesecond packet on to the next stage of the read data pipeline 108 withoutdecryption. When the packet was stored with a non-secret cryptographicnonce, the nonce is used in conjunction with an encryption key todecrypt the data packet. The encryption key may be received from a hostdevice 114, a computer, key manager, or other device that manages theencryption key to be used by the solid-state storage controller 104.

In another embodiment, the read data pipeline 108 includes adecompression module 336 that decompresses a data segment formatted bythe depacketizer 324. In one embodiment, the decompression module 336uses compression information stored in one or both of the packet headerand the container label to select a complementary routine to that usedto compress the data by the compression module 312. In anotherembodiment, the decompression routine used by the decompression module336 is dictated by the device requesting the data segment beingdecompressed. In another embodiment, the decompression module 336selects a decompression routine according to default settings on a perdata structure type or data structure class basis. A first packet of afirst object may be able to override a default decompression routine anda second packet of a second data structure of the same data structureclass and data structure type may use the default decompression routineand a third packet of a third data structure of the same data structureclass and data structure type may use no decompression.

In another embodiment, the read data pipeline 108 includes a readprogram module 338 that includes one or more user-definable functionswithin the read data pipeline 108. The read program module 338 hassimilar characteristics to the write program module 310 and allows auser to provide custom functions to the read data pipeline 108. The readprogram module 338 may be located as shown in FIG. 3, may be located inanother position within the read data pipeline 108, or may includemultiple parts in multiple locations within the read data pipeline 108.Additionally, there may be multiple read program modules 338 withinmultiple locations within the read data pipeline 108 that operateindependently. One of skill in the art will recognize other forms of aread program module 338 within a read data pipeline 108. As with thewrite data pipeline 106, the stages of the read data pipeline 108 may berearranged and one of skill in the art will recognize other orders ofstages within the read data pipeline 108.

The solid-state storage controller 104 includes control and statusregisters 340 and corresponding control queues 342. The control andstatus registers 340 and control queues 342 facilitate control andsequencing commands and subcommands associated with data processed inthe write and read data pipelines 106, 108. For example, a data segmentin the packetizer 302 may have one or more corresponding controlcommands or instructions in a control queue 342 associated with the ECCgenerator 304. As the data segment is packetized, some of theinstructions or commands may be executed within the packetizer 302.Other commands or instructions may be passed to the next control queue342 through the control and status registers 340 as the newly formeddata packet created from the data segment is passed to the next stage.

Commands or instructions may be simultaneously loaded into the controlqueues 342 for a packet being forwarded to the write data pipeline 106with each pipeline stage pulling the appropriate command or instructionas the respective packet is executed by that stage. Similarly, commandsor instructions may be simultaneously loaded into the control queues 342for a packet being requested from the read data pipeline 108 with eachpipeline stage pulling the appropriate command or instruction as therespective packet is executed by that stage. One of skill in the artwill recognize other features and functions of control and statusregisters 340 and control queues 342.

The solid-state storage controller 104 and or the cache 102 may alsoinclude a bank interleave controller 344, a synchronization buffer 346,a storage bus controller 348, and a multiplexer (“MUX”) 350, which aredescribed in relation to FIG. 4.

Bank Interleave

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment 400 of abank interleave controller 344 in the solid-state storage controller104. The bank interleave controller 344 is connected to the control andstatus registers 340 and to the storage I/O bus 210 and storage controlbus 212 through the MUX 350, storage bus controller 348, andsynchronization buffer 346, which are described below. The bankinterleave controller 344 includes a read agent 402, a write agent 404,an erase agent 406, a management agent 408, read queues 410 a-n, writequeues 412 a-n, erase queues 414 a-n, and management queues 416 a-n forthe banks 214 in the solid-state storage media 110, bank controllers 418a-n, a bus arbiter 420, and a status MUX 422, which are described below.The storage bus controller 348 includes a mapping module 424 with aremapping module 430, a status capture module 426, and a NAND buscontroller 428, which are described below.

The bank interleave controller 344 directs one or more commands to twoor more queues in the bank interleave controller 104 and coordinatesamong the banks 214 of the solid-state storage media 110 execution ofthe commands stored in the queues, such that a command of a first typeexecutes on one bank 214 a while a command of a second type executes ona second bank 214 b. The one or more commands are separated by commandtype into the queues. Each bank 214 of the solid-state storage media 110has a corresponding set of queues within the bank interleave controller344 and each set of queues includes a queue for each command type.

The bank interleave controller 344 coordinates among the banks 214 ofthe solid-state storage media 110 execution of the commands stored inthe queues. For example, a command of a first type executes on one bank214 a while a command of a second type executes on a second bank 214 b.Typically the command types and queue types include read and writecommands and queues 410, 412, but may also include other commands andqueues that are storage media specific. For example, in the embodimentdepicted in FIG. 4, erase and management queues 414, 416 are includedand would be appropriate for flash memory, NRAM, MRAM, DRAM, PRAM, etc.

For other types of solid-state storage media 110, other types ofcommands and corresponding queues may be included without straying fromthe scope of the invention. The flexible nature of an FPGA solid-statestorage controller 104 allows flexibility in storage media. If flashmemory were changed to another solid-state storage type, the bankinterleave controller 344, storage bus controller 348, and MUX 350 couldbe altered to accommodate the media type without significantly affectingthe data pipelines 106, 108 and other solid-state storage controller 104functions.

In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 4, the bank interleave controller 344includes, for each bank 214, a read queue 410 for reading data from thesolid-state storage media 110, a write queue 412 for write commands tothe solid-state storage media 110, an erase queue 414 for erasing anerase block in the solid-state storage, an a management queue 416 formanagement commands. The bank interleave controller 344 also includescorresponding read, write, erase, and management agents 402, 404, 406,408. In another embodiment, the control and status registers 340 andcontrol queues 342 or similar components queue commands for data sent tothe banks 214 of the solid-state storage media 110 without a bankinterleave controller 344.

The agents 402, 404, 406, 408, in one embodiment, direct commands of theappropriate type destined for a particular bank 214 a to the correctqueue for the bank 214 a. For example, the read agent 402 may receive aread command for bank-1 214 b and directs the read command to the bank-1read queue 410 b. The write agent 404 may receive a write command towrite data to a location in bank-0 214 a of the solid-state storagemedia 110 and will then send the write command to the bank-0 write queue412 a. Similarly, the erase agent 406 may receive an erase command toerase an erase block in bank-1 214 b and will then pass the erasecommand to the bank-1 erase queue 414 b. The management agent 408typically receives management commands, status requests, and the like,such as a reset command or a request to read a configuration register ofa bank 214, such as bank-0 214 a. The management agent 408 sends themanagement command to the bank-0 management queue 416 a.

The agents 402, 404, 406, 408 typically also monitor status of thequeues 410, 412, 414, 416 and send status, interrupt, or other messageswhen the queues 410, 412, 414, 416 are full, nearly full,non-functional, etc. In one embodiment, the agents 402, 404, 406, 408receive commands and generate corresponding sub-commands. In oneembodiment, the agents 402, 404, 406, 408 receive commands through thecontrol & status registers 340 and generate corresponding sub-commandswhich are forwarded to the queues 410, 412, 414, 416. One of skill inthe art will recognize other functions of the agents 402, 404, 406, 408.

The queues 410, 412, 414, 416 typically receive commands and store thecommands until required to be sent to the solid-state storage banks 214.In a typical embodiment, the queues 410, 412, 414, 416 are first-in,first-out (“FIFO”) registers or a similar component that operates as aFIFO. In another embodiment, the queues 410, 412, 414, 416 storecommands in an order that matches data, order of importance, or othercriteria.

The bank controllers 418 typically receive commands from the queues 410,412, 414, 416 and generate appropriate subcommands. For example, thebank-0 write queue 412 a may receive a command to write a page of datapackets to bank-0 214 a. The bank-0 controller 418 a may receive thewrite command at an appropriate time and may generate one or more writesubcommands for each data packet stored in the write buffer 320 to bewritten to the page in bank-0 214 a. For example, bank-0 controller 418a may generate commands to validate the status of bank 0 214 a and thesolid-state storage array 216, select the appropriate location forwriting one or more data packets, clear the input buffers within thesolid-state storage memory array 216, transfer the one or more datapackets to the input buffers, program the input buffers into theselected location, verify that the data was correctly programmed, and ifprogram failures occur do one or more of interrupting the mastercontroller 224, retrying the write to the same physical location, andretrying the write to a different physical location. Additionally, inconjunction with example write command, the storage bus controller 348will cause the one or more commands to multiplied to each of the each ofthe storage I/O buses 210 a-n with the logical address of the commandmapped to a first physical addresses for storage I/O bus 210 a, andmapped to a second physical address for storage I/O bus 210 b, and soforth as further described below.

Typically, bus arbiter 420 selects from among the bank controllers 418and pulls subcommands from output queues within the bank controllers 418and forwards these to the Storage Bus Controller 348 in a sequence thatoptimizes the performance of the banks 214. In another embodiment, thebus arbiter 420 may respond to a high level interrupt and modify thenormal selection criteria. In another embodiment, the master controller224 can control the bus arbiter 420 through the control and statusregisters 340. One of skill in the art will recognize other means bywhich the bus arbiter 420 may control and interleave the sequence ofcommands from the bank controllers 418 to the solid-state storage media110.

The bus arbiter 420 typically coordinates selection of appropriatecommands, and corresponding data when required for the command type,from the bank controllers 418 and sends the commands and data to thestorage bus controller 348. The bus arbiter 420 typically also sendscommands to the storage control bus 212 to select the appropriate bank214. For the case of flash memory or other solid-state storage media 110with an asynchronous, bi-directional serial storage I/O bus 210, onlyone command (control information) or set of data can be transmitted at atime. For example, when write commands or data are being transmitted tothe solid-state storage media 110 on the storage I/O bus 210, readcommands, data being read, erase commands, management commands, or otherstatus commands cannot be transmitted on the storage I/O bus 210. Forexample, when data is being read from the storage I/O bus 210, datacannot be written to the solid-state storage media 110.

For example, during a write operation on bank-0 the bus arbiter 420selects the bank-0 controller 418 a which may have a write command or aseries of write sub-commands on the top of its queue which cause thestorage bus controller 348 to execute the following sequence. The busarbiter 420 forwards the write command to the storage bus controller348, which sets up a write command by selecting bank-0 214 a through thestorage control bus 212, sending a command to clear the input buffers ofthe solid-state storage elements 110 associated with the bank-0 214 a,and sending a command to validate the status of the solid-state storageelements 216, 218, 220 associated with the bank-0 214 a. The storage buscontroller 348 then transmits a write subcommand on the storage I/O bus210, which contains the physical addresses including the address of thelogical erase block for each individual physical erase solid-stagestorage element 216 a-m as mapped from the logical erase block address.The storage bus controller 348 then muxes the write buffer 320 throughthe write sync buffer 308 to the storage I/O bus 210 through the MUX 350and streams write data to the appropriate page. When the page is full,then storage bus controller 348 causes the solid-state storage elements216 a-m associated with the bank-0 214 a to program the input buffer tothe memory cells within the solid-state storage elements 216 a-m.Finally, the storage bus controller 348 validates the status to ensurethat page was correctly programmed.

A read operation is similar to the write example above. During a readoperation, typically the bus arbiter 420, or other component of the bankinterleave controller 344, receives data and corresponding statusinformation and sends the data to the read data pipeline 108 whilesending the status information on to the control and status registers340. Typically, a read data command forwarded from bus arbiter 420 tothe storage bus controller 348 will cause the MUX 350 to gate the readdata on storage I/O bus 210 to the read data pipeline 108 and sendstatus information to the appropriate control and status registers 340through the status MUX 422.

The bus arbiter 420 coordinates the various command types and dataaccess modes so that only an appropriate command type or correspondingdata is on the bus at any given time. If the bus arbiter 420 hasselected a write command, and write subcommands and corresponding dataare being written to the solid-state storage media 110, the bus arbiter420 will not allow other command types on the storage I/O bus 210.Beneficially, the bus arbiter 420 uses timing information, such aspredicted command execution times, along with status informationreceived concerning bank 214 status to coordinate execution of thevarious commands on the bus with the goal of minimizing or eliminatingidle time of the busses.

The master controller 224 through the bus arbiter 420 typically usesexpected completion times of the commands stored in the queues 410, 412,414, 416, along with status information, so that when the subcommandsassociated with a command are executing on one bank 214 a, othersubcommands of other commands are executing on other banks 214 b-n. Whenone command is fully executed on a bank 214 a, the bus arbiter 420directs another command to the bank 214 a. The bus arbiter 420 may alsocoordinate commands stored in the queues 410, 412, 414, 416 with othercommands that are not stored in the queues 410, 412, 414, 416.

For example, an erase command may be sent out to erase a group of eraseblocks within the solid-state storage media 110. An erase command maytake 10 to 1000 times more time to execute than a write or a readcommand or 10 to 100 times more time to execute than a program command.For N banks 214, the bank interleave controller 344 may split the erasecommand into N commands, each to erase a virtual erase block of a bank214 a. While bank-0 214 a is executing an erase command, the bus arbiter420 may select other commands for execution on the other banks 214 b-n.The bus arbiter 420 may also work with other components, such as thestorage bus controller 348, the master controller 224, etc., tocoordinate command execution among the buses. Coordinating execution ofcommands using the bus arbiter 420, bank controllers 418, queues 410,412, 414, 416, and agents 402, 404, 406, 408 of the bank interleavecontroller 344 can dramatically increase performance over othersolid-state storage systems without a bank interleave function.

In one embodiment, the solid-state controller 104 includes one bankinterleave controller 344 that serves all of the storage elements 216,218, 220 of the solid-state storage media 110. In another embodiment,the solid-state controller 104 includes a bank interleave controller 344for each column of storage elements 216 a-m, 218 a-m, 220 a-m. Forexample, one bank interleave controller 344 serves one column of storageelements SSS 0.0-SSS M.0 216 a, 216 b, . . . 216 m, a second bankinterleave controller 344 serves a second column of storage elements SSS0.1-SSS M.1 218 a, 218 b, . . . 218 m etc.

Storage-Specific Components

The solid-state storage controller 104 includes a synchronization buffer346 that buffers commands and status messages sent and received from thesolid-state storage media 110. The synchronization buffer 346 is locatedat the boundary between the solid-state storage clock domain and thelocal bus clock domain and provides buffering to account for the clockdomain differences. The synchronization buffer 346, writesynchronization buffer 308, and read synchronization buffer 328 may beindependent or may act together to buffer data, commands, statusmessages, etc. In one embodiment, the synchronization buffer 346 islocated where there are the fewest number of signals crossing the clockdomains. One skilled in the art will recognize that synchronizationbetween clock domains may be arbitrarily moved to other locations withinthe cache 102 in order to optimize some aspect of design implementation.

The solid-state storage controller 104 includes a storage bus controller348 that interprets and translates commands for data sent to and readfrom the solid-state storage media 110 and status messages received fromthe solid-state storage media 110 based on the type of solid-statestorage media 110. For example, the storage bus controller 348 may havedifferent timing requirements for different types of storage, storagewith different performance characteristics, storage from differentmanufacturers, etc. The storage bus controller 348 also sends controlcommands to the storage control bus 212.

In one embodiment, the solid-state storage controller 104 includes a MUX350 that comprises an array of multiplexers 350 a-n where eachmultiplexer is dedicated to a row in the solid-state storage array 110.For example, multiplexer 350 a is associated with solid-state storageelements 216 a, 218 a, 220 a. MUX 350 routes the data from the writedata pipeline 106 and commands from the storage bus controller 348 tothe solid-state storage media 110 via the storage I/O bus 210 and routesdata and status messages from the solid-state storage media 110 via thestorage I/O bus 210 to the read data pipeline 108 and the control andstatus registers 340 through the storage bus controller 348,synchronization buffer 346, and bank interleave controller 344.

In one embodiment, the solid-state storage controller 104 includes a MUX350 for each row of solid-state storage elements (e.g. SSS 0.1 216 a,SSS 0.2 218 a, SSS 0.N 220 a). A MUX 350 combines data from the writedata pipeline 106 and commands sent to the solid-state storage media 110via the storage I/O bus 210 and separates data to be processed by theread data pipeline 108 from commands. Packets stored in the write buffer320 are directed on busses out of the write buffer 320 through a writesynchronization buffer 308 for each row of solid-state storage elements(SSS x.0 to SSS x.N 216, 218, 220) to the MUX 350 for each row ofsolid-state storage elements (SSS x.0 to SSS x.N 216, 218, 220). Thecommands and read data are received by the MUXes 350 from the storageI/O bus 210. The MUXes 350 also direct status messages to the storagebus controller 348.

The storage bus controller 348 includes a mapping module 424. Themapping module 424 maps a logical address of an erase block to one ormore physical addresses of an erase block. For example, a solid-statestorage media 110 with an array of twenty storage elements (e.g. SSS 0.0to SSS M.0 216) per block 214 a may have a logical address for aparticular erase block mapped to twenty physical addresses of the eraseblock, one physical address per storage element. Because the storageelements are accessed in parallel, erase blocks at the same position ineach storage element in a row of storage elements 216 a, 218 a, 220 awill share a physical address. To select one erase block (e.g. instorage element SSS 0.0 216 a) instead of all erase blocks in the row(e.g. in storage elements SSS 0.0, 0.1, . . . 0.N 216 a, 218 a, 220 a),one bank (in this case bank-0 214 a) is selected.

This logical-to-physical mapping for erase blocks is beneficial becauseif one erase block becomes damaged or inaccessible, the mapping can bechanged to map to another erase block. This mitigates the loss of losingan entire virtual erase block when one element's erase block is faulty.The remapping module 430 changes a mapping of a logical address of anerase block to one or more physical addresses of a virtual erase block(spread over the array of storage elements). For example, virtual eraseblock 1 may be mapped to erase block 1 of storage element SSS 0.0 216 a,to erase block 1 of storage element SSS 1.0 216 b, . . . , and tostorage element M.0 216 m, virtual erase block 2 may be mapped to eraseblock 2 of storage element SSS 0.1 218 a, to erase block 2 of storageelement SSS 1.1 218 b, . . . , and to storage element M.1 218 m, etc.Alternatively, virtual erase block 1 may be mapped to one erase blockfrom each storage element in an array such that virtual erase block 1includes erase block 1 of storage element SSS 0.0 216 a to erase block 1of storage element SSS 1.0 216 b to storage element M.0 216 m, and eraseblock 1 of storage element SSS 0.1 218 a to erase block 1 of storageelement SSS 1.1 218 b, . . . , and to storage element M.1 218 m, foreach storage element in the array up to erase block 1 of storage elementM.N 220 m.

If erase block 1 of a storage element SSS0.0 216 a is damaged,experiencing errors due to wear, etc., or cannot be used for somereason, the remapping module 430 could change the logical-to-physicalmapping for the logical address that pointed to erase block 1 of virtualerase block 1. If a spare erase block (call it erase block 221) ofstorage element SSS 0.0 216 a is available and currently not mapped, theremapping module 430 could change the mapping of virtual erase block 1to point to erase block 221 of storage element SSS 0.0 216 a, whilecontinuing to point to erase block 1 of storage element SSS 1.0 216 b,erase block 1 of storage element SSS 2.0 (not shown) . . . , and tostorage element M.0 216 m. The mapping module 424 or remapping module430 could map erase blocks in a prescribed order (virtual erase block 1to erase block 1 of the storage elements, virtual erase block 2 to eraseblock 2 of the storage elements, etc.) or may map erase blocks of thestorage elements 216, 218, 220 in another order based on some othercriteria.

In one embodiment, the erase blocks could be grouped by access time.Grouping by access time, meaning time to execute a command, such asprogramming (writing) data into pages of specific erase blocks, canlevel command completion so that a command executed across the eraseblocks of a virtual erase block is not limited by the slowest eraseblock. In other embodiments, the erase blocks may be grouped by wearlevel, health, etc. One of skill in the art will recognize other factorsto consider when mapping or remapping erase blocks.

In one embodiment, the storage bus controller 348 includes a statuscapture module 426 that receives status messages from the solid-statestorage media 110 and sends the status messages to the status MUX 422.In another embodiment, when the solid-state storage media 110 is flashmemory, the storage bus controller 348 includes a NAND bus controller428. The NAND bus controller 428 directs commands from the read andwrite data pipelines 106, 108 to the correct location in the solid-statestorage media 110, coordinates timing of command execution based oncharacteristics of the flash memory, etc. If the solid-state storagemedia 110 is another solid-state storage type, the NAND bus controller428 would be replaced by a bus controller specific to the storage type.One of skill in the art will recognize other functions of a NAND buscontroller 428.

Data Caching

FIG. 5 depicts one embodiment of a host device 114. The host device 114may be similar, in certain embodiments, to the host device 114 depictedin FIGS. 1A and 1B. The depicted embodiment includes a user application502 in communication with a storage client 504. The storage client 504is in communication with a direct cache module 116, which, in oneembodiment, is substantially similar to the direct cache module 116 ofFIGS. 1A and 1B, described above. The direct cache module 116, in thedepicted embodiment, is in communication with the cache 102 and thebacking store 118 through the storage controller 104 and the backingstore controller 120.

In one embodiment, the user application 502 is a software applicationoperating on or in conjunction with the storage client 504. The storageclient 504 manages file systems, files, data, and the like and utilizesthe functions and features of the direct cache module 116, the cache102, and the backing store 118. Representative examples of storageclients include, but are not limited to, a server, a file system, anoperating system, a database management system (“DBMS”), a volumemanager, and the like.

In the depicted embodiment, the storage client 504 is in communicationwith the direct cache module 116. In a further embodiment, the storageclient 504 may also be in communication with the cache 102 and/or thebacking store 118 directly. The storage client 504, in one embodiment,reads data from and writes data to the backing store 118 through thedirect cache module 116, which uses the cache 102 to cache read dataand/or write data for the backing store 118. In a further embodiment,the direct cache module 116 caches data in a manner that issubstantially transparent to the storage client 504, with the storageclient 504 sending read requests and write requests directly to thedirect cache module 116.

In one embodiment, the direct cache module 116 has exclusive access toand/or control over the cache 102 and the backing store 118. The directcache module 116 may represent itself to the storage client 504 as astorage device. For example, the direct cache module 116 may representitself as a conventional block storage device, or the like. In aparticular embodiment, the direct cache module 116 may represent itselfto the storage client 504 as a storage device having the same number oflogical blocks (0 to N) as the backing store 118. In another embodiment,the direct cache module 116 may represent itself to the storage client504 as a storage device have the more logical blocks (0 to N+X) as thebacking store 118, where X=the number of logical blocks addressable bythe direct cache module 116 beyond N. In certain embodiments, X=2⁶⁴−N.

As described above with regard to the direct cache module 116 depictedin the embodiments of FIGS. 1A and 1B, in various embodiments, thedirect cache module 116 may be embodied by one or more of a storagecontroller 104 of the cache 102 and/or a backing store controller 120 ofthe backing store 118; a separate hardware controller device thatinterfaces with the cache 102 and the backing store 118; a device driverloaded on the host device 114; and the like.

In one embodiment, the host device 114 loads a device driver for thedirect cache module 116. In a further embodiment, the host device 114loads device drivers for the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118,such as one or more device drivers of the storage controller 104 and/orthe backing store controller 120. The direct cache module 116 maycommunicate with the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118 throughdevice drivers loaded on the host device 114, through the storagecontroller 104 of the cache 102 and/or through the backing storecontroller 120 of the backing store 118, or the like.

In one embodiment, the storage client 504 communicates with the directcache module 116 through an Input/Output (“I/O”) interface representedby a block I/O emulation layer 506. In certain embodiments, the factthat the direct cache module 116 is providing caching services in frontof one or more caches 102, and/or one or more backing stores, such asthe backing store 118, may be transparent to the storage client 504. Insuch an embodiment, the direct cache module 116 may present (i.e.,identify itself as) a conventional block device to the storage client504.

In a further embodiment, the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118either include a distinct block I/O emulation layer 506 or may beconventional block storage devices. Certain conventional block storagedevices divide the storage media into volumes or partitions. Each volumeor partition may include a plurality of sectors. One or more sectors areorganized into a logical block. In certain storage systems, such asthose interfacing with the Windows® operating systems, the logicalblocks are referred to as clusters. In other storage systems, such asthose interfacing with UNIX, Linux, or similar operating systems, thelogical blocks are referred to simply as blocks. A logical block orcluster represents a smallest physical amount of storage space on thestorage media that is addressable by the storage client 504. A blockstorage device may associate n logical blocks available for user datastorage across the storage media with a logical block address, numberedfrom 0 to n. In certain block storage devices, the logical blockaddresses may range from 0 to n per volume or partition. In conventionalblock storage devices, a logical block address maps directly to aparticular logical block. In conventional block storage devices, eachlogical block maps to a particular set of physical sectors on thestorage media.

However, the direct cache module 116, the cache 102 and/or the backingstore 118, in certain embodiments, may not directly or necessarilyassociate logical block addresses with particular physical blocks. Thedirect cache module 116, the cache 102, and/or the backing store 118 mayemulate a conventional block storage interface to maintain compatibilitywith block storage clients 504 and with conventional block storagecommands and protocols.

When the storage client 504 communicates through the block I/O emulationlayer 506, the direct cache module 116 appears to the storage client 504as a conventional block storage device. In one embodiment, the directcache module 116 provides the block I/O emulation layer 506 which servesas a block device interface, or API. In this embodiment, the storageclient 504 communicates with the direct cache module 116 through thisblock device interface. In one embodiment, the block I/O emulation layer506 receives commands and logical block addresses from the storageclient 504 in accordance with this block device interface. As a result,the block I/O emulation layer 506 provides the direct cache module 116compatibility with block storage clients 504. In a further embodiment,the direct cache module 116 may communicate with the cache 102 and/orthe backing store 118 using corresponding block device interfaces.

In one embodiment, a storage client 504 communicates with the directcache module 116 through a direct interface layer 508. In thisembodiment, the direct cache module 116 directly exchanges informationspecific to the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118 with the storageclient 504. Similarly, the direct cache module 116, in one embodiment,may communicate with the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118 throughdirect interface layers 508.

A direct cache module 116 using the direct interface 508 may store dataon the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118 as blocks, sectors, pages,logical blocks, logical pages, erase blocks, logical erase blocks, ECCchunks or in any other format or structure advantageous to the technicalcharacteristics of the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118. Forexample, in one embodiment, the backing store 118 comprises a hard diskdrive and the direct cache module 116 stores data on the backing store118 as contiguous sectors of 512 bytes, or the like, using physicalcylinder-head-sector addresses for each sector, logical block addressesfor each sector, or the like. The direct cache module 116 may receive alogical address and a command from the storage client 504 and performthe corresponding operation in relation to the cache 102, and/or thebacking store 118. The direct cache module 116, the cache 102, and/orthe backing store 118 may support a block I/O emulation layer 506, adirect interface 508, or both a block I/O emulation layer 506 and adirect interface 508.

As described above, certain storage devices, while appearing to astorage client 504 to be a block storage device, do not directlyassociate particular logical block addresses with particular physicalblocks, also referred to in the art as sectors. Such storage devices mayuse a logical-to-physical translation layer 510. In the depictedembodiment, the cache 102 includes a logical-to-physical translationlayer 510. In a further embodiment, the backing store 118 may alsoinclude a logical-to-physical translation layer 510. In anotherembodiment, the direct cache module 116 maintains a singlelogical-to-physical translation layer 510 for the cache 102 and thebacking store 118. In another embodiment, the direct cache module 116maintains a distinct logical-to-physical translation layer 510 for eachof the cache 102 and the backing store 118.

The logical-to-physical translation layer 510 provides a level ofabstraction between the logical block addresses used by the storageclient 504 and the physical block addresses at which the cache 102and/or the backing store 118 store the data. In the depicted embodiment,the logical-to-physical translation layer 510 maps logical blockaddresses to physical block addresses of data stored on the media of thecache 102. This mapping allows data to be referenced in a logicaladdress space using logical identifiers, such as a logical blockaddress. A logical identifier does not indicate the physical location ofdata in the cache 102, but is an abstract reference to the data. Themapping module 424 and the remapping module 430 of FIG. 4, discussedabove, are one example of a logical-to-physical translation layer 510.One further example of a logical-to-physical translation layer 510includes the direct mapping module 716 of FIG. 7 discussed below.

In the depicted embodiment, the cache 102 and the backing store 118separately manage physical block addresses in the distinct, separatephysical address spaces of the cache 102 and the backing store 118. Inone example, contiguous logical block addresses may in fact be stored innon-contiguous physical block addresses as the logical-to-physicaltranslation layer 510 determines the location on the physical media 110of the cache 102 at which to perform data operations.

Furthermore, in one embodiment, the logical address space of the cache102 is substantially larger than the physical address space or storagecapacity of the cache 102. This “thinly provisioned” or “sparse addressspace” embodiment, allows the number of logical addresses for datareferences to greatly exceed the number of possible physical addresses.A thinly provisioned and/or sparse address space also allows the cache102 to cache data for a backing store 118 with a larger address space(i.e., a larger storage capacity) than the physical address space of thecache 102.

In one embodiment, the logical-to-physical translation layer 510includes a map or index that maps logical block addresses to physicalblock addresses. The map or index may be in the form of a B-tree, acontent addressable memory (“CAM”), a binary tree, and/or a hash table,and the like. In certain embodiments, the logical-to-physicaltranslation layer 510 is a tree with nodes that represent logical blockaddresses and include references to corresponding physical blockaddresses.

As stated above, in conventional block storage devices, a logical blockaddress maps directly to a particular physical block. When a storageclient 504 communicating with the conventional block storage devicedeletes data for a particular logical block address, the storage client504 may note that the particular logical block address is deleted andcan re-use the physical block associated with that deleted logical blockaddress without the need to perform any other action.

Conversely, when a storage client 504, communicating with a storagecontroller 104 or device driver with a logical-to-physical translationlayer 510 (a storage controller 104 or device driver that does not map alogical block address directly to a particular physical block), deletesdata of a logical block address, the corresponding physical blockaddress may remain allocated because the storage client 504 may notcommunicate the change in used blocks to the storage controller 104 ordevice driver. The storage client 504 may not be configured tocommunicate changes in used blocks (also referred to herein as “datablock usage information”). Because the storage client 504, in oneembodiment, uses the block I/O emulation 506 layer, the storage client504 may erroneously believe that the direct cache module 116, the cache102, and/or the backing store 118 is a conventional block storage devicethat would not utilize the data block usage information. Or, in certainembodiments, other software layers between the storage client 504 andthe direct cache module 116, the cache 102, and/or the backing store 118may fail to pass on data block usage information.

Consequently, the storage controller 104 or device driver may preservethe relationship between the logical block address and a physicaladdress and the data on the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118corresponding to the physical block. As the number of allocated blocksincreases, the performance of the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118may suffer depending on the configuration of the cache 102 and/or thebacking store 118.

Specifically, in certain embodiments, the cache 102, and/or the backingstore 118 are configured to store data sequentially, using anappend-only writing process, and use a storage space recovery processthat re-uses non-volatile storage media storing deallocated/unusedlogical blocks. Specifically, as described above, the cache 102, and/orthe backing store 118 may sequentially write data on the solid-statestorage media 110 in a log structured format and within one or morephysical structures of the storage elements, the data is sequentiallystored on the solid-state storage media 110. Those of skill in the artwill recognize that other embodiments that include several caches 102can use the same append-only writing process and storage space recoveryprocess.

As a result of storing data sequentially and using an append-onlywriting process, the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118 achieve ahigh write throughput and a high number of I/O operations per second(“IOPS”). The cache 102 and/or the backing store 118 may include astorage space recovery, or garbage collection process that re-uses datastorage cells to provide sufficient storage capacity. The storage spacerecovery process reuses storage cells for logical blocks marked asdeallocated, invalid, unused, or otherwise designated as available forstorage space recovery in the logical-physical translation layer 510. Inone embodiment, the direct cache module 116 marks logical blocks asdeallocated or invalid based on a cache eviction policy, to recoverstorage capacity for caching additional data for the backing store 118.The direct cache module 116, in certain embodiments, selects data thatis either cached read data or destaged, cleaned write data to clear,invalidate, or evict. The storage space recovery process is described ingreater detail below with regard to the garbage collection module 714 ofFIG. 7.

As described above, the storage space recovery process determines that aparticular section of storage may be recovered. Once a section ofstorage has been marked for recovery, the cache 102 and/or the backingstore 118 may relocate valid blocks (e.g. packets, pages, sectors, etc.)in the section. The storage space recovery process, when relocatingvalid blocks, copies the packets and writes them to another location sothat the particular section of storage may be reused as availablestorage space, typically after an erase operation on the particularsection. The cache 102 and/or the backing store 118 may then use theavailable storage space to continue sequentially writing data in anappend-only fashion. Consequently, the storage controller 104 expendsresources and overhead in preserving data in valid blocks. Therefore,physical blocks corresponding to deleted logical blocks may beunnecessarily preserved by the storage controller 104, which expendsunnecessary resources in relocating the physical blocks during storagespace recovery.

Some storage devices are configured to receive messages or commandsnotifying the storage device of these unused logical blocks so that thestorage device may deallocate the corresponding physical blocks (e.g.the physical storage media 110 storing the unused packets, pages,sectors, etc.). As used herein, to deallocate a physical block includesmarking the physical block as invalid, unused, or otherwise designatingthe physical block as available for storage space recovery, its contentson storage media no longer needing to be preserved by the storagedevice. Data block usage information may also refer to informationmaintained by a storage device regarding which physical blocks areallocated and/or deallocated/unallocated and changes in the allocationof physical blocks and/or logical-to-physical block mapping information.Data block usage information may also refer to information maintained bya storage device regarding which blocks are in use and which blocks arenot in use by a storage client 504. Use of a block may include storingof data in the block on behalf of the storage client 504, reserving theblock for use by the storage client 504, and the like.

While physical blocks may be deallocated, in certain embodiments, thecache 102 and/or the backing store 118 may not immediately erase thedata on the storage media. An erase operation may be performed later intime. In certain embodiments, the data in a deallocated physical blockmay be marked as unavailable by the cache 102 and/or the backing store118 such that subsequent requests for data in the physical block returna null result or an empty set of data. In certain embodiments, thedirect cache module 116 evicts and/or invalidates data by deallocatingphysical blocks corresponding to the data in the cache 102.

One example of a command or message for such deallocation is the “TRIM”function is described in greater detail in U.S. patent application Ser.No. 12/711,113 entitled “APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR DATA BLOCKUSAGE INFORMATION SYNCHRONIZATION FOR A NON-VOLATILE STORAGE VOLUME” andfiled on Feb. 23, 2010 and in U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/952,113 entitled “APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR MANAGING DATA INA STORAGE DEVICE WITH AN EMPTY DATA TOKEN DIRECTIVE” and filed on Dec.6, 2007, which are incorporated herein by reference. A storage device,upon receiving a TRIM command, may deallocate physical blocks forlogical blocks whose data is no longer needed by the storage client 504.A storage device that deallocates physical blocks may achieve betterperformance and increased storage space, especially storage devices thatwrite data using certain processes and/or use a similar data storagerecovery process as that described above.

Consequently, the performance of the storage device is enhanced asphysical blocks are deallocated when they are no longer needed such asthrough the TRIM command or other similar deallocation commands issuedto the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118. In one embodiment, thedirect cache module 116 clears, trims, and/or evicts cached data fromthe cache 102 based on a cache eviction policy, or the like. As usedherein, clearing, trimming, or evicting data includes deallocatingphysical media associated with the data, marking the data as invalid orunused (using either a logical or physical address of the data), erasingphysical media associated with the data, overwriting the data withdifferent data, issuing a TRIM command or other deallocation commandrelative to the data, or otherwise recovering storage capacity ofphysical storage media corresponding to the data. Clearing cached datafrom the cache 102 based on a cache eviction policy frees storagecapacity in the cache 102 to cache more data for the backing store 118.

The direct cache module 116, in various embodiments, may representitself, the cache 102, and the backing store 118 to the storage client504 in different configurations. In one embodiment, the direct cachemodule 116 may represent itself to the storage client 504 as a singlestorage device (e.g., as the backing store 118, as a storage device witha similar physical capacity as the backing store 118, or the like) andthe cache 102 may be transparent or invisible to the storage client 504.In another embodiment, the direct cache module 116 may represent itselfto the direct cache module 116 as a cache device (e.g., as the cache102, as a cache device with certain cache functions or APIs available,or the like) and the backing store 118 may be separately visible and/oravailable to the storage client 504 (with part of the physical capacityof the backing store 118 reserved for the cache 201). In a furtherembodiment, the direct cache module 116 may represent itself to thestorage client 504 as a hybrid cache/storage device including both thecache 102 and the backing store 118.

Depending on the configuration, the direct cache module 116 may passcertain commands down to the cache 102 and/or to the backing store 118and may not pass down other commands. In a further embodiment, thedirect cache module 116 may support certain custom or new block I/Ocommands. In one embodiment, the direct cache module 116 supports adeallocation or trim command that clears corresponding data from boththe cache 102 and the backing store 118, i.e., the direct cache module116 passes the command to both the cache 102 and the backing store 118.In a further embodiment, the direct cache module 116 supports a flushtype trim or deallocation command that ensures that corresponding datais stored in the backing store 118 (i.e., that the corresponding data inthe cache 102 is clean) and clears the corresponding data from the cache102, without clearing the corresponding data from the backing store 118.In another embodiment, the direct cache module 116 supports an evicttype trim or deallocation command that evicts corresponding data fromthe cache 102, marks corresponding data for eviction in the cache 102,or the like, without clearing the corresponding data from the backingstore 118.

In a further embodiment, the direct cache module 116 may receive,detect, and/or intercept one or more predefined commands that a storageclient 504 or another storage manager sent to the backing store 118,that a storage manager sends to a storage client 504, or the like. Forexample, in various embodiments, the direct cache module 116 or aportion of the direct cache module 116 may be part of a filter driverthat receives or detects the predefined commands, the direct cachemodule 116 may register with an event server to receive a notificationof the predefined commands, or the like. The direct cache module 116, inone embodiment, performs one or more actions on the cache 102 inresponse to detecting the one or more predefined commands for thebacking store 118, such as writing or flushing data related to a commandfrom the cache 102 to the backing store 118, evicting data related to acommand from the cache 102, switching from a write back policy to awrite through policy for data related to a command, or the like.

One example of predefined commands that the direct cache module 116 mayintercept or respond to, in one embodiment, includes a “freeze/thaw”commands. “Freeze/thaw” commands are used in SANs, storage arrays, andthe like, to suspend storage access, such as access to the backing store118 or the like, to take an snapshot or backup of the storage withoutinterrupting operation of the applications using the storage.“Freeze/thaw” commands alert a storage client 504 that a snapshot isabout to take place, the storage client 504 flushes pending operations,for example in-flight transactions, or data cached in volatile memory,the snapshot takes place while the storage client 504 use of the storageis in a “frozen” or ready state, and once the snapshot is complete thestorage client 504 continues normal use of the storage in response to athaw command.

The direct cache module 116, in one embodiment, flushes or cleans dirtydata from the cache 102 to the backing store 118 in response todetecting a “freeze/thaw” command. In a further embodiment, the directcache module 116 suspends access to the backing store 118 during asnapshot or other backup of a detected “freeze/thaw” command and resumesaccess in response to a completion of the snapshot or other backup. Inanother embodiment, the direct cache module 116 may cache data for thebacking store 118 during a snapshot or other backup without interruptingthe snapshot or other backup procedure. In other words, rather than thebackup/snapshot software signaling the application to quiesce I/Ooperations, the direct cache module 116 receives and responds to thefreeze/thaw commands.

FIG. 6 depicts one embodiment of the direct cache module 116 a. In thedepicted embodiment, the direct cache module 116 a includes a storagerequest module 602, a read pool module 604, and a dirty write poolmodule 606. In a further embodiment, the direct cache module 116 a mayinclude one or more modules described below with regard to the directcache module 116 b of FIG. 7. In certain embodiments, the direct cachemodule 116 a may be substantially similar to the direct cache module 116described above with regard to FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, and FIG. 5.

In one embodiment, the storage request module 602 monitors storagerequests received by the cache 102, such as read requests, writerequests, trim requests, and/or other types of storage requests. Thestorage requests received by the cache 102, in certain embodiments, maybe requests from a client, such as the host device 114 or the like. Thestorage requests may be directed from a client to the direct cachemodule 116 a, to the cache 102, to the backing store 118, or the like.

The storage request module 602, in one embodiment, receives the storagerequests directly from a client, such as the host device 114, for thedirect cache module 116 a and the cache 102. In a further embodiment,the storage request module 602 may detect, intercept, or otherwiseindirectly monitor the storage requests. Example configurations of thedirect cache module 116, the storage controller 104, and the backingstore controller 120 and various embodiments of sending and receivingstorage requests and other commands are described above with regard toFIG. 5. For example, in one embodiment, the direct cache module 116 amay include a filter driver executing on the host device 114 thatreceives, detects, or otherwise monitors storage requests, the directcache module 116 a may register with an event server to receive anotification of storage requests or other predefined commands, or thelike.

In one embodiment, the cache 102 caches both read data and write datafor the backing store 118 and the storage request module 602 monitorsread requests and write requests. Embodiments of a write request module712 and a read request module 720 that service write requests and readrequests for the direct cache module 116 and/or the cache 102 aredescribed in greater detail below with regard to FIG. 7.

The storage request module 602, in a further embodiment, monitorswhether a storage request is a cache hit or a cache miss. A cache hitoccurs when the cache 102 is currently storing data for one or moreaddresses corresponding to a storage request. A cache miss occurs whenthe cache 102 is not currently storing data for one or more addresses ofa storage request. A read hit rate represents the amount of readrequests that are cache hits relative to read requests that are cachemisses, relative to total read requests, or the like. For example, invarious embodiments, a read hit rate may include a percentage of readrequests that are read hits, a ratio of read hits to read misses, oranother representation of read hits. A read hit rate may represent readhits over a lifetime of the cache 102, may represent read hits over apredetermined period of time, or the like. In one embodiment, a read hitrate is for the entire cache 102, including all data pools of the cache102. In a further embodiment, a read hit rate may be specific to one ormore data pools of the cache 102. In general, maximizing a read hit rateof the cache 102 increases performance and efficiency of the cache 102and decreases response times for the cache 102 to service read requests,and the like.

Whether a write request is a write hit or a write miss does nottypically affect a response time to service the write request buttypically has other effects on performance and efficiency of the cache102. A write hit occurs when the cache 102 is currently storing data forone or more addresses corresponding to a write request. A write hit, inone embodiment, invalidates the currently stored data for the one ormore addresses of the write request, because the new write request makesthe currently stored data outdated or stale. A dirty write hit is awrite hit in a dirty write pool of the cache 102. A dirty write hitinvalidates dirty data from the dirty write pool of the cache 102. Dirtydata is data in the cache 102 that the direct cache module 116 has notyet destaged to the backing store 118.

A dirty write hit rate represents the amount of write requests that aredirty write hits. A dirty write hit rate, in various embodiments, may berelative to write requests that are not dirty write hits, relative towrite requests that are cache misses, relative to total write requests,or the like. A dirty write hit rate may represent dirty write hits overa lifetime of the cache 102, over a predetermined period of time, or thelike. A dirty write hit rate is specific to the dirty write pool of thecache 102. In general, maximizing a dirty write hit rate of the cache102 increases performance and efficiency of the cache 102 because datathat the dirty write hit invalidates can be cleared from the cache 102without destaging the data to the backing store 118. In certainembodiments, a clean write hit, a write hit in a clean write pool of thecache 102 instead of in the dirty write pool, indicates that the directcache module 116 could have operated more efficiently by waiting todestage the data because the clean write hit may then have invalidatedthe data.

In one embodiment, the storage request module 602 determines one or morehit rates and/or miss rates for the cache 102, such as a read hit rate,a dirty write hit rate, or the like. In a further embodiment, thestorage request module 602 monitors hits and/or misses of storagerequests, such as read hits, dirty write hits, or the like, and thedirect cache module 116 a maximizes a read hit rate, maximizes a dirtywrite hit rate, and/or otherwise optimizes efficiency of the cache 102based on the monitored hits and/or misses of storage requests. Inanother embodiment, the storage request module 602 determines in whichdata pool of the cache 102 a hit occurs.

The storage request module 602, in certain embodiments, counts ortallies storage requests to determine one or more frequency counts bylogical address or other storage division. A frequency count, as usedherein, comprises an amount of storage requests, accesses, references,or the like for a storage division of the cache 102 and or the backingstore 118 over time. In one embodiment, the frequency count comprises aread request count and the storage request module 602 counts readrequests for each storage division. In another embodiment, the frequencycount comprises a write request count and the storage request module 602counts write requests for each storage division. A storage division mayinclude a logical or physical erase block, a logical or physical page,an ECC chunk, a packet, a range of one or more logical addresses, or thelike.

In one embodiment, the membership metadata module 718 described belowwith regard to FIG. 7 stores one or more frequency counts as membershipmetadata in a mapping structure of the direct mapping module 716described below. The storage request module 602, in certain embodiments,tracks frequency counts at the same granularity as the mappingstructure. For example, if the mapping structure stores nodes withvariable sized ranges of logical addresses, in one embodiment, thestorage request module 602 cooperates with the membership metadatamodule 718 to determine and store frequency counts for variable sizedranges of logical addresses identified by storage requests.

The read request module 720 described below may use a frequency countfor evicted data to determine whether to readmit the evicted data intothe cache 102. For example, the read request module 720 may readmitevicted data into the cache 102 in response to a frequency count for theevicted data satisfying a readmission threshold or the like. Similarly,the read request module 720 may use a frequency count for data that thecache does not yet or does not currently store to determine whether toadmit the un-stored data into the cache 102. For example, the readrequest module 720 may admit un-stored data into the cache 102 inresponse to a frequency count for the un-stored data satisfying apreadmission threshold or the like.

In one embodiment, the read pool module 604 manages a read pool of thecache 102. The read pool of the cache 102 includes data that the directcache module 116 a stores in the cache 102 in response to a readrequest. Storing data in the cache 102 in response to a read request isdescribed in greater detail below with regard to the read request module720 of FIG. 7. In certain embodiments, the read pool module 604 maydivide the read pool into several sub-pools, such as one or more recentread pools, one or more frequent read pools, or the like. In a furtherembodiment, the read pool module 604 may divide the read pool into aplurality of gradient read pools based on a number of read requests forthe data of the particular pool. For example, data with one read requestmay be in a first read pool, data with two read requests may be in asecond read pool, up to N read pools for data with N read requests, orthe like.

The read pool module 604, in one embodiment, adjusts a size of the readpool of the cache 102 to maximize a read hit rate and/or a dirty writehit rate of the storage requests that the storage request module 602monitors. In general, the larger the read pool, the higher the read hitrate. However, in certain embodiments, due to the finite storagecapacity of the cache 102, the read pool module 604 balances the size ofthe read pool to maximize both a read hit rate and a dirty write hitrate, based on use cases of the cache 102. The read pool module 604, incertain embodiments, adjusts the size of the read pool by adjusting aneviction rate of data in the read pool relative to eviction rates ofdata in other pools of the cache 102, or the like. A groomer module 704that selectively evicts or retains data of the cache 102 is describedbelow with regard to FIG. 7.

The read pool module 604, in a further embodiment, adjusts a size of theread pool of the cache 102 by determining a target read pool size forthe read pool based on the storage requests that the storage requestmodule 602 monitors. For example, the read pool module 604, in certainembodiments, may determine a target read pool size and a differencebetween the target read pool size and an actual read pool size may drivean eviction rate for one or more pools of the cache 102 so that theactual read pool size tends to follow or move toward the target readpool size. In embodiments where the read pool includes sub-pools, suchas a recent read pool, a frequent read pool, or the like, the read poolmodule 604 may determine target sizes for each sub-pool, and the targetread pool size may be the sum of the sub-pool target sizes, or the like.

In a further embodiment, the read pool module 604 adjusts the size ofthe read pool and/or adjusts the target size of the read pool based on aset of adjustment rules. The set of adjustment rules, in certainembodiments, define an adjustment to a target size of a pool in responseto a predefined type of hit or miss, a predefined threshold number ofhits or misses, or the like. The set of adjustment rules, in variousembodiments, may be shared for several data pools of the cache 102, maybe specific to a single data pool of the cache 102, or the like.

For example, in certain embodiments, the read pool module 604, the dirtywrite pool module 606, a clean write pool 702 described below withregard to FIG. 7, and/or other pool management modules may cooperateusing a single set of adjustment rules for adjustments to the read pool,the dirty write pool, a clean write pool, a recent read pool, a frequentread pool, and/or other data pools. In a further embodiment, the readpool module 604, the dirty write pool module 606, the clean write pool702 described below with regard to FIG. 7, and/or other pool managementmodules may each use separate sets of adjustment rules, such as a set ofread pool adjustment rules, a set of dirty write pool adjustment rules,a set of clean write pool adjustment rules, a set of recent read pooladjustment rules, a set of frequent read pool adjustment rules, or thelike.

In one embodiment, pool adjustment rules may be default rules for thedirect cache module 116 a defined by an engineer, a distributor, amanufacturer, or the like. In another embodiment, pool adjustment rulesmay be custom rules defined or selected by a user, through an interfaceof the host device 114, a network interface, or the like. In a furtherembodiment, the direct cache module 116 a may dynamically learn orupdate one or more pool adjustment rules based on a history of hits andmisses for the cache 102. In general, a read pool adjustment rule forthe read pool module 604 defines an increase or decrease to the actualsize and/or to the target size of the read pool in response to apredefined type or number of hits or misses, such as read hits, readmisses, write hits, write misses, recent read hits, frequent read hits,dirty read hits, clean read hits, dirty write hits, clean write hits, orthe like.

In certain embodiments, a pool adjustment rule may balance competingfactors and/or unknown factors to make an optimal adjustment to a poolsize. For example, in one embodiment, the read pool module 604 mayadjust the size of the read pool by reducing the target read pool sizein response to a read miss and/or a predefined threshold number of readmisses. As described below with regard to the read request module 720 ofFIG. 7, in one embodiment, the actual size of the read pool increases inresponse to a read miss because the direct cache module 116 a cachesdata of the read miss in the cache 102 as a member of the read pool.

However, a read miss may have several different causes, which, incertain embodiments, may warrant different read pool adjustments. In onecase, a read miss may indicate that the read pool size is too small andthat increasing the read pool size may lead to fewer read misses. Inanother case, a read miss may indicate that the read request was for aone-time read, such as a video or audio stream, and that the read poolsize should be reduced to prevent poisoning the cache 102 with one-timeread data that is unlikely to be accessed again. If the cache 102 wereto be filled or poisoned with one-time read data, other pools of thecache 102, such as a dirty write pool, a clean write pool, or the like,in certain embodiments, would shrink to provide storage capacity for theone-time read data and an increase in the size of the read pool, whichwould have a negative effect on the dirty write hit rate, with little orno benefit to the read hit rate.

In certain embodiments, the read pool module 604 balances these twocompeting factors by reducing the target read pool size in response to aread miss (or predefined threshold number of read misses) and increasingthe target read pool size in response to a read hit (or predefinedthreshold number of read hits), such as a recent read hit, or the like.If the read miss was caused by the first case and the cache 102 is notbeing poisoned by one-time read data, the cache 102 will likely havemore read hits and the read pool module 604 may increase the target readpool size in response to the read hits, maximizing the read hit rate forthe first case. If the read miss was caused by the second case and thecache 102 is being poisoned by one-time read data, from a video or audiostream, or the like, the cache 102, in one embodiment, will likely havemore read misses with further one-time read data, and the read poolmodule 604 may decrease the target read pool size in response to theread misses, to prevent further poisoning of the cache 102.

In another embodiment, the read pool module 604 may detect, determine,and/or estimate that a read miss is due to either the first case or thesecond case and make a different adjustment based on the case. Forexample, in certain embodiments, the read pool module 604 may increasethe target read pool size in response to a read miss and/or read misses,based on a use pattern, a history of read hits and/or read misses, auser selection, an indicator received with a storage request, or thelike, instead of reducing the target read pool size as described above.

In certain embodiments, as described below with regard to FIG. 7, theread pool module 604 manages the read pool as a recent read pool and afrequent read pool. The read pool module 604, in one embodiment, adjustsa size of the recent read pool, adjusts a size of the frequent readpool, or the like to maximize the read hit rate and/or the dirty writehit rate of storage requests for the cache 102. For example, in oneembodiment, the read pool module 604 increases a target recent read poolsize of the recent read pool in response to a read hit (or a predefinedthreshold number of read hits) in the recent read pool. In a furtherembodiment, the read pool module 604 transitions data from the recentread pool to the frequent read pool in response to a frequent readthreshold number of read hits for the requested data in the recent readpool, such as a first read hit, a second read hit, or another frequentread threshold number of read hits.

In one embodiment, the dirty write pool module 606 manages a dirty writepool of the cache 102. The dirty write pool of the cache 102 includesdirty data that the direct cache module 116 a stores in the cache 102 inresponse to a write request and that the direct cache module 116 a hasnot yet destaged to the backing store 118. Storing data in the cache 102in response to a write request is described in greater detail below withregard to the write request module 712 and the cache write module 714 ofFIG. 7.

The dirty write pool module 606, in one embodiment, adjusts a size ofthe dirty write pool of the cache 102 to maximize a dirty write hit rateand/or a read hit rate of the storage requests that the storage requestmodule 602 monitors. In general, the larger the dirty write pool, thehigher the dirty write hit rate. However, in certain embodiments, due tothe finite storage capacity of the cache 102, the dirty write poolmodule 606 balances the size of the dirty write pool to maximize both adirty write hit rate and a read hit rate, based on use cases of thecache 102. The dirty write pool module 606, in certain embodiments,adjusts the size of the dirty write pool by adjusting a destage rate fordestaging data from the dirty write pool to the backing store 118, orthe like. A destage module 708 that destages data from the dirty writepool to the backing store 118 at a destage rate is described below withregard to FIG. 7.

In certain embodiments, the dirty write pool module 606 sets the destagerate such that the size of the dirty write pool remains within a maximumdirty write pool size. For example, the direct cache module 116 a mayguarantee to a user that the cache 102 will store no more than a maximumdirty write pool size amount of dirty data. The maximum dirty write poolsize, in one embodiment, is set by a user using an interface of the hostdevice 114, a network interface, or the like. In a further embodiment,an engineer, a distributor, a manufacturer, or the like may define themaximum dirty write pool size for the cache 102.

In one embodiment, upon destaging dirty data to the backing store 118,the dirty write pool module 606 transitions the data from the dirtywrite pool to a clean write pool. A clean write pool module 702 thatmanages a clean write pool is described below with regard to FIG. 7. Thedirty write pool module 606 may coordinate or interface with the cleanwrite pool module 702 to adjust a size of a write pool including thedirty write pool and the clean write pool, or the like. In anotherembodiment, the dirty write pool module 606 may transition dirty data tothe read pool described above with regard to the read pool module 604 inresponse to destaging the dirty data. In a further embodiment, the dirtywrite pool module 606 invalidates, evicts, or otherwise clears dirtydata from the cache 102 once the dirty data is destaged to the backingstore 118.

The dirty write pool module 606, in one embodiment, adjusts a size ofthe dirty write pool of the cache 102 by determining a target dirtywrite pool size for the dirty write pool based on the storage requeststhat the storage request module 602 monitors. For example, the dirtywrite pool module 606, in certain embodiments, may determine a targetdirty write pool size and a difference between the target dirty writepool size and an actual dirty write pool size may drive the destage ratefor the dirty write pool so that the actual dirty write pool size tendsto follow or move toward the target dirty write pool size, or the like.

In one embodiment, the dirty write pool module 606 adjusts the size ofthe dirty write pool and/or adjusts the target size of the dirty writepool based on a set of adjustment rules, substantially as describedabove with regard to the read pool module 604. In general, a dirty writepool adjustment rule for the dirty write pool module 606 defines anincrease or decrease to the actual size and/or to the target size of thedirty write pool in response to a predefined type or number of hits ormisses, such as write hits, write misses, read hits, read misses, dirtywrite hits, clean write hits, dirty read hits, clean read hits, recentread hits, frequent read hits, or the like.

In certain embodiments, as described above with regard to the read poolmodule 604, a pool adjustment rule may balance competing factors and/orunknown factors to make an optimal adjustment to a pool size. In oneembodiment, the dirty write pool module 606 adjusts the size of thedirty write pool by reducing the target dirty write pool size inresponse to a write miss and/or a predefined threshold number of writemisses. As described below with regard to the write request module 712and the cache write module 714 of FIG. 7, in one embodiment, the actualsize of the dirty write pool increases in response to a write missbecause the direct cache module 116 a caches data of the write miss inthe cache 102 as a member of the dirty write pool, until the data isdestaged. However, like a read miss, a write miss may have severaldifferent causes which may warrant different pool adjustments.

In one case, a write miss may indicate that a write pool size and/or thedirty write pool size is too small and that increasing the dirty writepool size may lead to fewer write misses, reducing the amount of datathat the direct cache module 116 a destages to the backing store 118. Inanother case, a write miss may indicate that the write request was aone-time write, such as writing a video or audio stream that is unlikelyto be re-written or changed, and that the dirty write pool size shouldbe reduced to prevent poisoning the cache 102 with one-time write data.If the cache 102 were to be filled or poisoned with one-time write data,other pools of the cache 102, such as the read pool described above, incertain embodiments, would shrink to provide storage capacity for theone-time write data and an increase in the size of the dirty write pool,which would have a negative effect on the read hit rate, with little orno benefit to the dirty write hit rate.

In certain embodiments, the dirty write pool module 606 balances thesetwo competing factors by reducing the target dirty write pool size inresponse to a write miss (or a predefined threshold number of writemisses) and increasing the target dirty write pool size in response to adirty write hit (or a predefined threshold number of dirty write hits).If the write miss was caused by the first case and the cache 102 is notbeing poisoned by one-time write data, the cache 102 will likely havemore dirty write hits and the dirty write pool module 606 may increasethe target dirty write pool size in response to the dirty write hits,maximizing the dirty write hit rate for the first case. If the writemiss was caused by the second case and the cache 102 is being poisonedby one-time write data, the cache 102, in certain embodiments, willlikely have more write misses with further one-time write data, and thedirty write pool module 606 may decrease the target dirty write poolsize in response to the write misses, to prevent further poisoning ofthe cache 102.

In other embodiments, the dirty write pool module 606 may detect,determine, and/or estimate that a write miss is due to either the firstcase or the second case and make a different adjustment based on thecase. For example, in certain embodiments, the dirty write pool module606 may increase the target dirty write pool size in response to a writemiss or predefined threshold number of write misses, based on a usepattern, a history of write hits and/or write misses, a user selection,an indicator received with a storage request, or the like, instead ofreducing the target dirty write pool size as described above. Otherembodiments of dirty write pool adjustment rules may include increasingthe target dirty write pool size in response to one or more dirty writehits, increasing the target dirty write pool size in response to one ormore clean write hits, or the like.

One of skill in the art, in light of this disclosure, will recognizeother pool adjustment rules that the read pool module 604, the dirtywrite pool module 606, and/or other pool management modules such as theclean write pool module 702, the recent pool module 724, and/or thefrequent pool module 726 described below, may use to manage sizes ofassociated data pools. For example, a pool management module 604, 606,702, 724, 726 may manage a target pool size of an associated data poolto more closely match (e.g. to remain within a predefined range of) anactual size of the data pool, even in cases where a data pool may bebeing poisoned as described above. For example, a pool management module604, 606, 702, 724, 726 may increase a target pool size in response to acache hit in an associated data pool. An increase in response to a cachehit, in one embodiment, may be proportional to a difference between anactual size of the associated data pool and the target pool size of theassociated data pool, so that a cache hit for the associated data poolresults in little or no increase in the target size if the difference isclose to zero.

In another embodiment, a pool management module 604, 606, 702, 724, 726may increase a target pool size towards an actual pool size in responseto a cache hit in an associated data pool if a frequency count for thecache hit is below a frequency threshold and does not increase thetarget pool size if the frequency count is above the frequencythreshold, because a high frequency count may indicate that pool growthis not beneficial since the associated data has been in the cache 102for some time. Similarly, a pool management module 604, 606, 702, 724,726 may not decrease a target pool size in response to a cache miss (toprevent poisoning of the cache 102 as described above) if a frequencycount for the cache miss is above a frequency threshold, as highfrequency data may be unlikely to be poisoning the cache 102. In anotherembodiment, a pool management module 604, 606, 702, 724, 726 maydecrease a target pool size in response to data being evicted, aging, orexpiring out of the associated data pool so that the target pool sizetends to follow the actual pool size.

In certain embodiments, a pool management module 604, 606, 702, 724, 726may stabilize changes in a target pool size and/or in an actual poolsize for an associated data pool over time. A pool management module604, 606, 702, 724, 726 may use a feedback loop with a previous targetpool size, a previous actual pool size, or the like as a feedback inputto prevent instability in the target pool size and/or in the actual poolsize. In other embodiments, a pool management module 604, 606, 702, 724,726, may dampen changes in a target or actual pool size, may filter atarget or actual pool size, may limit a rate of change in a target oractual pool size, may limit an acceleration in a rate of change in atarget or actual pool size, or the like. Stabilizing target or actualpool sizes, in various embodiments, may prevent actual sizes of datapools from becoming unbalanced or unstable, prevent a single data poolfrom dominating the cache 102, prevent a data pool from decreasing insize to at or near zero, or the like, especially for nonstandard orunusual use cases of the cache 102. In other embodiments, for certainuse cases, it may be beneficial for a single data pool to dominate thecache 102, to decrease in size to at or near zero, or the like.

FIG. 7 depicts another embodiment of the direct cache module 116 b. Inthe depicted embodiment, the direct cache module 116 b includes theblock I/O emulation layer 506, the direct interface layer 508, thestorage request module 602, the read pool module 604, and the dirtywrite pool module 606, substantially as described above with regard toFIGS. 5 and 6. The direct cache module 116 b, in the depictedembodiment, further includes a clean write pool module 702, a groomermodule 704, a pool indicator module 706, a destage module 708, a writeforward module 710, a write request module 712, a cache write module714, a direct mapping module 716, a membership metadata module 718, aread request module 720, and a backing store interface module 722. Thedirect cache module 116 b, in certain embodiments, may be substantiallysimilar to the direct cache module 116 of FIGS. 1A and 1B, the directcache module 116 of FIG. 5, and the direct cache module 116 a of FIG. 6.

In the depicted embodiment, the read pool module 604 includes a recentpool module 724 and a frequent pool module 726. The read pool module604, in one embodiment, uses the recent pool module 724 to manage arecent read pool of the read pool and uses the frequent pool module 726to manage a frequent read pool of the read pool. In certain embodiments,the read pool module 604 transitions data from the recent read pool tothe frequent read pool once the data has been requested at least apredefined number of times, to satisfy a frequent read threshold, or thelike. For example, in one embodiment, the read pool module 604 adds datato the recent read pool as the data is cached in response to a readmiss, and moves the data from the recent read pool to the frequent readpool in response to a subsequent read request for the data, a frequentread threshold number of read requests for the data, or the like.

In one embodiment, the recent pool module 724 adjusts a size of therecent read pool to maximize a read hit rate and/or a dirty write hitrate of storage requests for the cache 102. In a further embodiment, thefrequent pool module 726 adjusts a size of the frequent read pool tomaximize a read hit rate and/or a dirty hit rate of storage requests forthe cache 102. The recent pool module 724 and/or the frequent poolmodule 726, in certain embodiments, manage and adjust sizes of therecent read pool and/or the frequent read pool substantially asdescribed above with regard to the read pool module 604 of FIG. 6. Forexample, in one embodiment, the recent pool module 724 determines atarget recent read pool size for the recent read pool based on storagerequests that the storage request module 602 monitors, and the like. Inanother embodiment, the frequent pool module 726 determines a targetfrequent read pool size for the frequent read pool based on storagerequests that the storage request module 602 monitors, and the like.

In certain embodiments, the recent pool module 724 and/or the frequentpool module 726 adjust sizes of the recent read pool and/or the frequentread pool based on a read pool adjustment rule, as described above withregard to the read pool module 604 of FIG. 6. In one embodiment, therecent pool module 724 increases a target recent read pool size of therecent read pool in response to a read hit in the recent read pool, apredefined threshold number of read hits in the recent read pool, or thelike. A read hit in the recent read pool, in some embodiments, maytransition the requested data from the recent read pool to the frequentread pool, which may increase an actual size of the frequent read pooland decrease an actual size of the recent read pool, or the like. Whilethe read pool module 604, in the depicted embodiment, manages two datapools grouped by read request count or other frequency count, in otherembodiments, the read pool module 604 may manage more than two (e.g. N)data pools, each grouped by frequency count. Each pool may comprise datawith frequency counts within a predefined range. The predefined rangesmay be distributed evenly (e.g. 1-5, 6-10, 11-15), over a predefinedscale such as a logarithmic scale (e.g. 1, 2-3, 4-7, 8-15), or the like.

In one embodiment, the clean write pool module 702 manages a clean writepool of the cache 102. The clean write pool includes clean write datathat the direct cache module 116 b has destaged to the backing store 118or cleaned, using the destage module 708 or the like. Data transitionsor moves from the dirty write pool to the clean write pool, in certainembodiments, upon being destaged to the backing store 118. The cleanwrite pool module 702, in one embodiment, adjusts a size of the cleanwrite pool to maximize a read hit rate and/or a dirty write hit rate ofstorage requests of the cache 102.

In one embodiment, the clean write pool module 702 adjusts the size ofthe clean write pool of the cache by adjusting a destage rate for thedestage module 708, or the like, to maximize a dirty write hit rateand/or a read hit rate for the cache 102. The destage rate is the rateat which the destage module 708 destages data from the dirty write poolto the backing store 118 and moves the data from the dirty write pool tothe clean write pool. In a further embodiment, the clean write poolmodule 702 adjusts an eviction rate at which the groomer module 704, orthe like, evicts data from the clean write pool to maximize a read hitrate and/or a dirty write hit rate of the cache 102. The clean writepool module 702, in a further embodiment, determines a target cleanwrite pool size for the clean write pool and a difference between thetarget clean write pool size and an actual clean write pool size drivesan eviction rate and/or a destage rate, or the like.

In one embodiment, the groomer module 704 recovers storage capacity forthe cache 102. The groomer module 704, in certain embodiments, recoversstorage capacity for the cache 102 by erasing, trimming, or otherwiseclearing invalid data from the cache 102, evicting data of certain datapools from the cache, and writing certain data of certain data poolsforward to retain the data in the cache 102. In one embodiment, thegroomer module 704 selects data to evict and/or data to retain based onpool size adjustments, target pool sizes, or the like from the read poolmodule 604, the dirty write pool module 606, and/or the clean write poolmodule 702.

In the depicted embodiment, the groomer module 704 includes a dirty datamodule 728, a frequent data module 730, and an eviction module 732. Inone embodiment, the groomer module 704 grooms data of the cache 102 oneor more storage regions at a time. A region of the cache 102 is aphysical or logical block or segment of the storage media 110 of thecache. For example, in various embodiments, a region of the cache 102may include a block, a sector, a page, a logical block, a logical page,a physical erase block, a logical erase block, a packet, an ECC chunk,or another logical or physical division of the cache 102. The groomermodule 704, in one embodiment, selects a region for grooming based on agrooming cost for the region, selecting a low cost region or the like.

A grooming cost for a region, in one embodiment, includes an estimate orother representation of a cost of grooming and/or evicting the region ofthe cache 102. A grooming cost for a selected region may be relative toother regions such that the grooming cost may be compared betweendifferent regions to select a low cost region for grooming. A groomingcost, in certain embodiments, represents several different costsassociated with grooming data of the cache 102. In one embodiment, agrooming cost for a selected region represents a cache efficiency costof evicting data from the selected region, such as an opportunity costof evicting the data, a likelihood of a cache miss in response toevicting the data, or the like. In another embodiment, a grooming costfor a selected region represents a storage efficiency cost of copyingdata forward or otherwise retaining data from the selected region. Oneof skill in the art, in light of this disclosure, will recognize othercosts associated with grooming data that the groomer module 704 mayfactor in to the grooming cost of a selected region.

A cache efficiency cost factor of a grooming cost, in one embodiment,may be based on the types of data that the region stores, such as dataof the recent read pool, data of the frequent read pool, data of thedirty write pool, data of the clean write pool, and/or other data ofanother data pool. For example, the cache efficiency cost of evictingdata of the frequent pool may be higher than the cache efficiency costof evicting data of the recent pool, due to a greater likelihood of acache miss if the data of the frequent pool is evicted. Similarly, incertain embodiments, the cache efficiency cost of evicting data of thedirty write pool may be much larger than the cache efficiency cost ofevicting data of the clean write pool, of a read pool, or the like,because the backing store 118 does not yet store dirty write data, andthe cache efficiency cost of evicting dirty write data (i.e. losing thedata) may be very large or infinite.

A storage efficiency cost factor of a grooming cost, in one embodiment,may be based on one or more effects that grooming a selected region mayhave on the operation of the cache 102 as a storage device. For example,storage efficiency costs may include the cost and/or the writeamplification incurred by copying data from the selected region forward,such as data of the dirty write pool, frequently accessed data of thefrequent read pool, or the like, the performance cost on the cache 102of grooming the selected region, an impact (positive or negative) on thestorage media 110 of the cache 102 by grooming the selected region,and/or other storage efficiency costs.

In one embodiment, the storage efficiency cost factors may include wearleveling of the physical storage media 110. In another embodiment, thestorage efficiency cost factors include a frequency of access of aselected region, i.e., how “hot” or “cold” the selected region is. Inone embodiment, the storage efficiency cost factors include a positionof a selected region of data in the physical storage media 110 relativeto other “hot” data. In another embodiment, the storage efficiency costfactors may include a determined reliability of a selected region, suchas an Uncorrectable Bit Error Rate (“UBER”), a Correctable Bit ErrorRates (“BER”), a Program/Erase (“PE”) cycle count, a read frequency,and/or other non-volatile solid state storage specific attributes of theselected region. High BER, UBER, or PEs may be used as factors to lowerthe grooming cost and to increase the likelihood that the direct cachemodule 116 b will groom a selected region having those characteristics.

In one embodiment, the grooming cost of a selected region may be basedat least partially on one or more counts or tallies of types of datafrom various data pools in the selected region. A count or tally of dataof a specific data pool may comprise a number or amount of blocks,packets, pages, or the like in the region of the specific data pool,data units (e.g., bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, etc.) representing theamount of data in the region of the specific data pool, or the like. Thegrooming cost, in various embodiments, may be based at least partiallyon a count of data of the read pool, a count of data of the write pool,a count of data of the recent read pool, a count of data of the frequentread pool, a count of data of the dirty write pool, a count of data ofthe clean write pool, and/or counts of data of other types of datapools.

In one embodiment, the grooming cost for a selected region may accountfor data from several different data pools stored in the selected regionby scaling or weighing counts for the data from different data pools andsumming the results. For example, in certain embodiments, the groomingcost may include an amount of data of the dirty write pool multiplied byone or more scalars, an amount of data of the clean write poolmultiplied by one or more scalars, an amount of data of the recent readpool multiplied by one or more scalars, an amount of data of thefrequent read pool multiplied by one or more scalars, and/or amounts ofdata of other data pools multiplied by one or more scalars. The scalarsused in the grooming cost, in one embodiment, are selected to representa cache efficiency cost, a storage efficiency cost, and/or anothersub-cost of grooming data from a selected region. In one embodiment, atleast one scalar for each data pool is based on a difference between atarget size of the data pool and an actual size of the data pool so thatthe groomer module 704 selects a region for grooming and/or evictionbased on the differences between target sizes and actual sizes of thedata pools.

In one embodiment, the groomer module 704 relocates or otherwise retainsvalid data of certain data pools in a selected region to preserve thevalid data, to service storage requests, or the like. The groomer module704, in certain embodiments, uses the dirty data module 728 to relocateor copy/write forward dirty data that has not been destaged from thedirty write pool upon grooming the dirty data of a selected region topreserve the dirty data. In another embodiment, the groomer module 704may selectively relocate or copy forward clean data of the clean writepool that has already been destaged, such as clean data identified asfrequently accessed data, or the like.

In another embodiment, instead of relocating or copying forward dirtywrite pool data of a selected region, the destage module 708 describedbelow destages the dirty data in response to selecting a correspondingregion of the cache 102 for grooming, or the like. In one embodiment,the dirty data module 728 decides whether to relocate or destage dirtywrite pool data of a selected region based on a difference between atarget dirty write pool size and an actual dirty write pool size. Forexample, in one embodiment, the dirty data module 728 mayretain/relocate dirty data of a selected region if the target dirtywrite pool size is greater than the actual dirty write pool size anddestage the dirty data of the selected region if the target dirty writepool size is less than the actual dirty write pool size. In otherembodiments, the destage module 708 may select data from the dirty writepool for destaging independently of the groomer module 704.

In one embodiment, the groomer module 704 uses the frequent data module730 to relocate or copy/write forward data of the frequent read pooland/or other data from a selected region identified as frequentlyaccessed data, to retain frequently accessed data in the cache 102. Thefrequent data module 730, in various embodiments, may retain cached readdata of the frequent read pool, cached clean write data identified asfrequently accessed, or both cached read data and clean write dataidentified as frequently accessed. The frequent data module 730, in afurther embodiment, identifies frequently accessed data based on afrequency count, such as a map, bit field, bit array, frequent dataflags, and/or other frequent data indicators.

In one embodiment, the frequent data module 730 may handle frequent readpool data of a selected region differently based on a grooming mode ofthe groomer module 704. In certain embodiments, the groomer module 704may operate in a plurality of modes, such as a low pressure groom mode,a high pressure groom mode, or the like. For example, the groomer module704 may transition from a low pressure groom mode to a high pressuregroom mode in response to a lack of available storage capacity in thecache 102, a percentage of data marked as invalid reaching a predefinedthreshold level, performance of the cache 102 crossing a thresholdvalue, in response to a storage capacity recovery event, or the like. Inone embodiment, the groomer module 704 may select a grooming mode basedon one or more differences between target pool sizes and actual poolsizes, or the like. For example, the groomer module 704, in certainembodiments, enters a low pressure groom mode in response to a targetfrequent read pool size that is greater than an actual frequent readpool size and enters a high pressure groom mode in response to a targetfrequent read pool size that is less than an actual frequent read poolsize, or the like.

The frequent data module 730, in one embodiment, retains cached data ofthe frequent read pool and/or other data identified as frequentlyaccessed data when the groomer module 704 is in a low pressure groommode and the frequent data module 730 allows the eviction module 732 toevict cached data of the frequent read pool and/or other data identifiedas frequently accessed data when the groomer module 704 is in a highpressure groom mode. In embodiments where the read pool module 604manages multiple data pools, each grouped by frequency count, thefrequent data module 730 may progressively select data to retain and/orthe eviction module 732 may progressively select data to evict pool bypool, progressing through the multiple data pools based on groomingpressure. For example, the eviction module 732 may evict data from datapools with successively higher frequency counts in response toincreasing grooming pressure, while the frequent data module 730 retainsless data, corresponding to successively higher frequency counts or thelike. By processing data from one or more frequent read poolsdifferently in a high pressure groom mode than in a low pressure groommode, in certain embodiments, the groomer module 704 optimizes cacheefficiency by retaining frequent read pool data when there is lowgrooming pressure, while optimizing storage capacity recovery when thereis high grooming pressure.

The eviction module 732, in one embodiment, evicts, trims, erases, orotherwise clears data from a selected region to recover the storagecapacity of the selected region. Erasing data from a selected regionwithout relocating the data evicts the data from the cache 102. In oneembodiment, the groomer module 704 and/or the eviction module 732 clearsor erases all data in a selected region of the physical storage media110 in response to the dirty data module 728 and/or the frequent datamodule 730 retaining or copying forward dirty write data and/or frequentdata from the selected region, evicting data that is not retained orcopied forward from the cache 102. In a further embodiment, the dirtydata module 728 and/or the frequent data module 730 may mark data to beretained as valid and/or the eviction module 732 may mark data to beevicted as invalid, and a separate garbage collection process of thegroomer 702 may retain the valid data and erase or otherwise clear theinvalid data.

The eviction module 732, in certain embodiments, selects data foreviction from the cache 102 based at least partially on one or moredifferences between actual pool sizes and target pool sizes. Forexample, by using a grooming cost to select a region for grooming asdescribed above, in certain embodiments, the eviction module 732 selectsdata for eviction based on a difference between an actual read pool sizeand a target read pool size (such as actual and target recent read poolsizes and/or actual and target frequent read pool sizes, or the like),based on a difference between an actual clean write pool size and atarget clean write pool size, and/or a difference between an actual poolsize and a target pool size for another type of data pool. By scalingdata pool counts for a selected region by a difference between an actualpool size and a target pool size to form a grooming cost and groomingstorage regions based on grooming cost, in one embodiment, the evictionmodule 732 selects data for eviction such that the actual pool sizestend to follow the target pool sizes.

In one embodiment, the groomer module 704 includes or is part of anautonomous garbage collector system that operates within the cache 102.This allows the cache 102 to manage data so that data is systematicallyspread throughout the solid-state storage media 110, or other physicalstorage media, to improve performance, data reliability and to avoidoveruse and underuse of any one location or area of the solid-statestorage media 110 and to lengthen the useful life of the solid-statestorage media 110.

The groomer module 704, upon recovering a selected region of thephysical storage media 110, allows the cache 102 to re-use the region ofthe physical storage media 110 to store different data. In oneembodiment, the groomer module 704 adds the recovered region of physicalstorage media 110 to an available storage pool for the cache 102, or thelike. The groomer module 704 and/or the eviction module 732, in oneembodiment, erase existing data in a selected region. In a furtherembodiment, the groomer module 704 and/or the eviction module 732 allowthe cache 102 to overwrite existing data in a selected region. Whetheror not the groomer module 704, in various embodiments, erases existingdata in a selected region may depend on the nature of the physicalstorage media 110. For example, Flash media requires that cells beerased prior to reuse where magnetic media such as hard drives does nothave that requirement. In an embodiment where the groomer module 704does not erase data in a selected region, but allows the cache 102 tooverwrite data in the selected region, the groomer module 704, incertain embodiments, may mark the data in the selected region asunavailable to service read requests so that subsequent requests fordata in the selected region return a null result or an empty set of datauntil the cache 102 overwrites the data.

In one embodiment, the groomer module 704 recovers storage capacity ofthe cache 102 one or more storage regions at a time, or the like. Astorage region, in one embodiment, is a logical or physical erase blockor other predefined division. For flash memory, an erase operation on anerase block writes ones to every bit in the erase block. This is alengthy process compared to a program operation which starts with alocation being all ones, and as data is written, some bits are changedto zero. However, where the solid-state storage 110 is not flash memoryor has flash memory where an erase cycle takes a similar amount of timeas other operations, such as a read or a program, the eviction module732 may erase the data of a storage division as it evicts data, insteadof a separate garbage collection process of the groomer module 704.

The groomer module 704, in one embodiment, recovers storage capacity ofthe cache 102 in response to a storage capacity recovery event thattriggers the groomer module 704 to recover storage capacity of the cache102. In one embodiment, a storage capacity recovery event may include agrooming pressure for the cache 102 exceeding a predefined groomingpressure threshold. In another embodiment, a storage capacity recoveryevent may include an available storage capacity of the cache 102 fallingbelow a predefined available capacity threshold. A storage capacityrecovery event, in a further embodiment, may include a percentage ofdata marked as invalid in the cache 102 reaching a predefined invaliddata threshold level. In various other embodiments, a storage capacityrecovery event may include a consolidation of valid data, an errordetection rate reaching a threshold value, performance crossing athreshold value, a scheduled garbage collection or grooming cycle, orthe like.

In one embodiment, allowing the eviction module 732 to mark data asinvalid rather than actually erasing the data and allowing the groomermodule 704 to recover the physical media associated with invalid data,increases efficiency because, as mentioned above, for flash memory andother similar storage an erase operation takes a significant amount oftime. Allowing the groomer module 704 to operate autonomously andopportunistically within the cache 102 provides a way to separate eraseoperations from reads, writes, and other faster operations so that thecache 102 operates very efficiently.

In one embodiment, the pool indicator module 706 maintains one or morepool membership indicators, sets of pool membership indicators, or thelike for data of the cache 102 indicating in which pool of the cache 102the data is a member. For example, the pool indicator module 706, invarious embodiments, may maintain one or more read/write indicators,dirty/clean indicators, recent/frequent indicators, metadata indicators,valid/invalid indicators, or the like. The pool indicator module 706, incertain embodiments, maintains indicators for blocks of data in aregion, such as packets, ECC chunks, pages, sectors, ranges of data, orthe like within a region. For example, the pool indicator module 706 maymaintain one or more maps, bit arrays, bit fields, flags, or the likedenoting pool membership.

In one embodiment, the pool indicator module 706 maintains a read/writebit array indicating which blocks of a region include user write data, adirty/clean bit array indicating which blocks of a region include dirtywrite data, and/or a recent/frequent bit array indicating which blocksof a region include frequent data. In certain embodiments, as describedabove with regard to the frequent data module 730, members from severaldata pools may be identified as frequently accessed data. In such anembodiment, data in the frequent read pool may be identified as datathat is both read data and frequent data, using both a read/write bitarray and a recent/frequent bit array or other indicators.

In other embodiments, instead of separate bit arrays, or the like, thepool indicator module 706 uses a single indicator with a different statefor each data pool of the cache. For example, the pool indicator module706, in one embodiment, may maintain a single map, bit array, bit field,or the like that denotes pool membership for blocks of a region, witheach entry having a number of states equal to or greater than the numberof data pools. In a further embodiment, such a map, bit array, bitfield, or the like may include entries with at least two bits each, anentry representing membership in the recent read pool, the frequent readpool, the dirty write pool, or the clean write pool based on the stateof the at least two bits.

In one embodiment, the pool indicator module 706 is in communicationwith the storage controller 104 to maintain the pool membershipindicators or the like for the cache 102, such as maps, bit arrays, bitfields, flags, or the like. For example, the pool indicator module 706may receive pool membership indicators from and/or send pool membershipindicators to the storage controller 104. In one embodiment, the poolindicator module 706 and/or the storage controller 104 maintain poolmembership indicators in a mapping structure of the direct mappingmodule 716, in a reverse map, in volatile memory of the cache 102 or thehost device 114, in a region of data such as an erase block or a packet,and/or in other data storage. In a further embodiment, the poolindicator module 706 and/or the storage controller 104 may store poolmembership indicators on volatile memory and may also store at leastenough information to reconstruct the pool membership indicators on thestorage media 110 of the cache 102.

In one embodiment, the pool indicator module 706 maintains one or morecounts or tallies indicating an amount of blocks that a data poolincludes. The pool indicator module 706, in various embodiments, maymaintain counts or tallies for each region, such as a logical orphysical erase block or the like, for the entire cache 102, or the like.For example, in one embodiment, the pool indicator module 706 may trackan actual size of a read pool, an actual size of a recent read pool, anactual size of a frequent read pool, an actual size of a dirty writepool, and/or an actual size of a clean write pool as a count of theamount of data in the data pool. The pool indicator module 706, in afurther embodiment, represents the count of the amount of data in a datapool as a number of blocks, such as a packet, an ECC chunk, a page, asector, a range of data, or the like in the data pool.

In one embodiment, the pool indicator module 706 maintains poolmembership indicators for data that the cache 102 currently stores anddoes not maintain pool membership indicators for evicted data. Thecombined actual sizes of data pools of the cache 102, in a furtherembodiment, are less than or equal to a storage capacity of the cache102. In another embodiment, described in greater detail below withregard to the membership metadata module 718, the pool indicator module706 and/or the membership metadata module 718 may maintain certainmetadata for evicted data. For example, in one embodiment, themembership metadata module 718 may maintain an indicator indicating thatthe cache 102 previously stored a range of data, that a range of datawas previously a member of a certain data pool, or the like and the readpool module 604 may add the data directly to a frequent read pool inresponse to a read request for the data, bypassing a recent read pool,or the like.

In one embodiment, the pool indicator module 706 maintains valid/invalidindicators, such as a validity map or an invalidity map, identifyingwhich data in the cache 102 is valid and which data in the cache 102 isinvalid. As used herein, a map may refer to any associative datastructure associating a collection of unique keys with respectivevalues. Looking up a unique key in a map returns the associated value.The validity map, in one embodiment, associates storage units, such asblocks, packets, sectors, pages, ECC chunks, or the like, of the cache102 with a validity indicator that specifies that the data associatedwith the unit is either valid or invalid. The validity indicator, incertain embodiments, includes a bit in the validity map, with one staterepresenting valid data and the other state representing invalid data.

A validity map, in various embodiments, may include a bit map, a table,a list, and/or another data structure known in the art. For example, avalidity map may include a data structure suited for managing a verylarge and potentially sparsely populated domain such as an addressspace, comprising representations of valid or invalid storage units(and/or storage unit sets or ranges). For example, a validity map maycomprise a sparse array with an entry for each storage unit thatincludes valid data. An invalidity map may be derived from a validitymap (i.e., if a location is not in the validity map, then the locationis invalid) or vice versa.

In one embodiment, the pool indicator module 706 updates valid/invalidindicators as new data is written to the cache 102, as data isinvalidated, and the like. The pool indicator module 706, in certainembodiments, switches a valid/invalid indicator for data from valid toinvalid in response to a subsequent write request corresponding to anaddress of the data, described above as a write hit. A write hitinvalidates the previous data and replaces it with a new or updatedversion. In another embodiment, the pool indicator module 706 sets avalid/invalid indicator for data to invalid in response to a TRIMrequest for the data. In a further embodiment, the pool indicator module706 switches a valid/invalid indicator for data from valid to invalid inresponse to the eviction module 732 selecting the data for eviction fromthe cache 102. The groomer module 704, in certain embodiments, uponselecting a region for grooming or garbage collection, trims, erases,clears, or otherwise removes invalid data of the region from the cache102 based on valid/invalid indicators for data of the region andrecovers the storage capacity of the region, as described above.

The pool indicator module 706, in certain embodiments, maintains one ormore read/write indicators, dirty/clean indicators, recent/frequentindicators, valid/invalid indicators, or the like for data of eachregion of the cache 102, such as for data of each logical erase block,physical erase block, logical page, physical page, ECC chunk, packet,sector, or the like, indicating one or more states for each data blockof a region. For example, in one embodiment, the pool indicator module706 maintains a user write map, a dirty data map, a frequent data map,and/or a validity map per erase block of the cache 102, with anindicator in each map for each group of data in the erase block, such asa packet, ECC chunk, page, sector, range of data, or the like. The poolindicator module 706, in a further embodiment, maintains one or moreread/write indicators, dirty/clean indicators, recent/frequentindicators, valid/invalid indicators, or the like in volatile memory,such as volatile memory of the host device 114, volatile memory of thecache 102, or the like. In certain embodiments, the pool indicatormodule 706 may periodically store one or more read/write indicators,dirty/clean indicators, recent/frequent indicators, valid/invalidindicators, or the like to the storage media 110 of the cache 102 topersist the indicated data states in non-volatile storage.

In one embodiment, the pool indicator module 706 sets an indicator thatthe destage module 708 has destaged data to the backing store 118 totrack which write data is in the clean write and which data is in thedirty write pool. The pool indicator module 706, in one embodiment, setsthe indicator that the backing store 118 stores the data once thedestage module 708 has successfully written the data to the backingstore 118. Setting the indicator (dirty/clean indicator) that thebacking store 118 stores the data, in one embodiment, prevents thedestage module 708 from destaging data a second time once the destagemodule 708 has already destaged the data. In a further embodiment,setting the indicator that the backing store 118 stores the data mayaffect a grooming cost for a region associated with the data, may alerta garbage collection or grooming process, such as the groomer module704, that the data may be cleared from the cache 102, or the like.Similarly, in a further embodiment, the pool indicator module 706 setsan indicator that data from a recent read pool of the cache 102 hastransitioned to a frequent read pool of the cache 102 in response to afrequent read threshold number of read hits for the data.

The destage module 708, in one embodiment, destages cached data from thedirty write pool of the cache 102 to the backing store 118. The destagemodule 708 destages data to the backing store 118 by copying, writing,storing, or otherwise persisting the data in the backing store 118. Thedestage module 708 destages dirty write data that the backing store 118does not yet store. Data that is stored in the cache 102 that is not yetstored in the backing store 118 is referred to as “dirty” data. Once thebacking store 118 stores data, the data is referred to as “clean.” Thedestage module 708 destages or cleans data in the cache 102 by writingthe data to the backing store 118. In one embodiment, the dirty writepool module 606 transitions destaged data from the dirty write pool tothe clean write pool of the cache 102 in response to the destage module708 destaging the data.

The dirty write pool module 606 and/or the clean write pool module 702,in certain embodiments, cooperate with the destage module 708 to adjusta size of the dirty write pool of the cache 102 and/or to adjust a sizeof the clean write pool of the cache 102. The destage module 708, in oneembodiment, adjusts a destage rate at which the destage module 708destages data to the backing store 118 based on a difference between anactual dirty write pool size and a target dirty write pool size that thedirty write pool module 606 sets. In a further embodiment, the destagemodule 708 may adjust the destage rate based on a difference between anactual clean write pool size and a target clean write pool size that theclean write pool module 702 sets. In another embodiment, the destagemodule 708 may adjust the destage rate based on both a differencebetween an actual dirty write pool size and a target dirty write poolsize and a difference between an actual clean write pool size and atarget clean write pool size, or the like. In certain embodiments, thedirty write pool module 606 and/or the clean write pool module 702 mayset the destage rate for the destage module 708. In one embodiment, thedestage module 708 and/or the dirty write pool module 606 set thedestage rate to a level at which the size of the dirty write poolremains within a maximum dirty write pool size. Example embodiments ofmaximum dirty write pool sizes are described above with regard to thedirty write pool module 606 of FIG. 6.

As discussed in greater detail above with regard to the pool indicatormodule 706, in certain embodiments, the destage module 708 accesses oneor more pool membership indicators, such as a clean/dirty indicator orthe like, to determine which data in the cache 102 is dirty and is acandidate for destaging. In one embodiment, the destage module 708and/or the pool indicator module 706 update one or more pool membershipindicators in response to successfully destaging data to the backingstore 118 so that the one or more pool membership indicators indicatethat the destaged data is clean and is now a member of the clean writepool instead of the dirty write pool, or the like.

The destage module 708, in one embodiment, may determine an address forselected destage data in the backing store 118 based on a write requestcorresponding to the data. In a further embodiment, the destage module708 determines an address for destage data in the backing store 118based on a logical address of the data in the cache 102, based on acache index, a mapping structure, or the like. In another embodiment,the destage module 708 uses a reverse map or the like to determine anaddress for destage data in the backing store 118 based on a physicaladdress of the data in the cache 102.

The destage module 708, in one embodiment, writes data to the backingstore 118 based on a write policy. In one embodiment, the destage module708 uses a write-back write policy, and does not immediately write dataof a write request to the backing store 118 upon detecting the writerequest. Instead, the destage module 708, in one embodiment, performs anopportunistic or “lazy” write, destaging data to the backing store 118when the cache 102 and/or the direct cache module 116 b has a lightload, when available storage capacity in the cache 102 falls below athreshold, to satisfy a destaging pressure or target destage rate, orthe like. In certain write-back embodiments, the destage module 708 mayread data from the cache 102 and write the data to the backing store118.

In another embodiment, instead of cleaning data according to awrite-back write policy, the destage module 708 uses a write-throughpolicy, performing a synchronous write to the backing store 118 for eachwrite request that the write request module 712 (described below)receives. The destage module 708, in one embodiment, transitions from awrite-back to a write-through write policy in response to a predefinederror condition, such as an error or failure of the cache 102, or thelike.

In one embodiment, the destage module 708 does not invalidate or evictdestaged data from the cache 102, but destaged data remains in the cache102 to service read requests until the destaged data is evicted from thecache by the eviction module 732. In a further embodiment, where thecache 102 does not include a clean write data pool or the like, thedestage module 708 may invalidate, clear, or evict destaged data fromthe cache 102 once the backing store 118 stores the data. In certainembodiments, evicting data upon destaging may lead to an increase incache misses, but may also increase a speed or efficiency of garbagecollection/grooming of the cache 102 by the groomer module 704.

In one embodiment, the write forward module 710 writes data forward on alog of the cache 102 in response to a storage request for the data. Asdescribed above with regard to the frequent data module 730, in certainembodiments, upon grooming a region of the cache 102, the frequent datamodule 730 copies frequently accessed data forward on a log of the cache102, such as data from the frequent read pool or the like. Typically,copying the data forward during a grooming process includes at least twotransactions with the storage media 110 of the cache 102, one to readthe data from the groomed region and one to write or program the data tothe new region. In one embodiment, the write forward module 710preemptively writes data forward while the data is already in volatilememory of the cache 102 and/or of the host device 114 due to a storagerequest, such as a read request, for the data, to reduce the number oftransactions and bandwidth used to write frequently accessed dataforward to retain the data in the cache 102.

For example, in one embodiment, the read request module 720 describedbelow reads requested data from the cache 102 to service a read requestand the write forward module 710 writes the requested data forward on alog of the cache 102 in response to the read request. In a furtherembodiment, the write forward module 710 writes requested data forwardin response to a read request that satisfies a frequent read thresholdnumber of read hits and transitions the data from the recent read poolto the frequent read pool of the cache 102, as described above. In oneembodiment, where data transitions from the recent read pool to thefrequent read pool in response to a second read request or read hit forthe data, the write forward module 710 writes the data forward inresponse to the second read request for the data.

In one embodiment, the write forward module 710 queues or buffersfrequently accessed data and writes the frequently accessed data forwarda full region at a time, such as a full erase block or the like. In afurther embodiment, the write forward module 710 writes frequentlyaccessed data to a separate append point and/or to a separate log of thecache 102. For example, in one embodiment, the separate append pointand/or separate log may include data of the frequent read pool so thatthe frequent pool module 726 can track the data of the frequent readpool without a pool membership indicator or the like.

In a further embodiment, the groomer module 704 may groom the separatelog less frequently and/or the eviction module 732 may evict data fromthe separate log less frequently than a main ingestion log from whichthe write forward module 710 copied the frequently accessed data topreserve the frequently accessed data in the cache 102 for a longerperiod of time or the like. In another embodiment, once the destagemodule 708 has destaged the dirty data of the dirty write data pool froma region, the groomer module 704 and/or the eviction module 732 erases,evicts, trims, or otherwise clears the entire region upon selecting theregion for grooming, because the write forward module 710 has alreadywritten forward any frequently accessed data from the region.

In certain embodiments, the write forward module 710 may write data todifferent append points, different logs, or the like based on readrequest count or other frequency count for data of the correspondingstorage request. For example, the cache 102 may comprise separate appendpoints and/or separate logs for each data pool that the read pool module604 manages, for data grouped by frequency counts, or the like. Eachappend point and/or log may comprise data with frequency counts within apredefined range. Ranges of frequency counts for different append pointsand/or logs may be distributed evenly (e.g. 1-5, 6-10, 11-15), over apredefined scale such as a logarithmic scale (e.g. 1, 2-3, 4-7, 8-15),or the like. The groomer module 704 may groom logs with higher frequencycounts with progressively less frequency, the eviction module 732 mayevict data from logs with higher frequency counts with progressivelyless frequency, or the like. Grouping data in separate logs based onfrequency of access, in certain embodiments, makes grooming, garbagecollection, eviction, and/or other management functions of the cache 102more efficient.

In one embodiment, the write request module 712 detects one or morewrite requests to store data on the backing store 118. The write requestmodule 712 may detect a write request by receiving the write requestdirectly, detecting a write request sent to a different module or entity(such as detecting a write request sent directly to the backing store118), or the like. In one embodiment, the host device 114 sends thewrite request. The direct cache module 116 b, in one embodiment,represents itself to the host device 114 as a storage device, and thehost device 114 sends write requests directly to the write requestmodule 712. In a further embodiment, the write request module 712cooperates with the storage request module 602 to detect write requests.

A write request, in one embodiment, includes data that is not stored onthe backing store 118. Data that is not stored on the backing store 118,in various embodiments, includes new data not yet stored on the backingstore 118, modifications to data that is stored on the backing store118, and the like. The write request, in various embodiments, maydirectly include the data, may include a reference, a pointer, or anaddress for the data, or the like. For example, in one embodiment, thewrite request includes a range of addresses indicating data to be storedon the backing store 118 by way of a Direct Memory Access (“DMA”) orRemote DMA (“RDMA”) operation. In a further embodiment, a single writerequest may include several different contiguous and/or noncontiguousranges of addresses or blocks. In a further embodiment, the writerequest includes one or more destination addresses for the data, such aslogical and/or physical addresses for the data on the cache 102 and/oron the backing store 118. The write request module 712 and/or anothercooperating module, in various embodiments, may retrieve the data of awrite request directly from the write request itself, from a storagelocation referenced by a write request (i.e., from a location in systemmemory or other data storage referenced in a DMA or RDMA request), orthe like.

The cache write module 714, in one embodiment, writes data of a writerequest to the cache 102 to cache the data in the cache 102. The cachewrite module 714, in another embodiment, caches the data of the writerequest to the cache 102 at one or more logical addresses of the cache102 corresponding to one or more backing store addresses of the writerequest. In one embodiment, the cache write module 714 caches the datato the cache 102 by appending the data to a sequential, log-basedwriting structure preserved in the physical storage media 110 of thecache 102 at an append point. The cache write module 714, in oneembodiment, returns one or more physical addresses corresponding to alocation of the append point at which the data was appended to a directmapping module such as the direct mapping module 716 described below,which maps the one or more logical addresses of the cache 102 to the oneor more physical addresses corresponding to the append point. In oneembodiment, if a write request is a write hit and data corresponding toone or more backing store addresses of the write request is alreadycached in a data pool of the cache 102, the cache write module 714invalidates the existing data in the cache 102.

In certain embodiments, the cache write module 714 determines whether tostore data of a write request in the cache 102 based on membershipmetadata maintained by the membership metadata 718 described below. Ifthe cache write module 714 determines not to store data of a writerequest in the cache 102, the cache write module 714 may write the datato the backing store 118, operating in a write around or write throughmode. For example, the cache write module 714 may store data of a writerequest in the cache 102 in response to a frequency count, such as aread request count or write request count, for an address or addressrange of the write request satisfying a membership threshold and maystore data of the write request in the backing store 118 without cachingthe data in response to the frequency count failing to satisfy themembership threshold.

The direct mapping module 716, in one embodiment, directly maps logicalor physical addresses of the backing store 118 (“backing storeaddresses”) to logical addresses of the cache 102 and directly mapslogical addresses of the cache 102 to the backing store addresses of thebacking store 118. As used herein, direct mapping of addresses meansthat for a given address in a first address space there is exactly onecorresponding address in a second address space with no translation ormanipulation of the address to get from an address in the first addressspace to the corresponding address in the second address space. Thedirect mapping module 716, in a further embodiment, maps backing storeaddresses to logical addresses of the cache 102 such that each backingstore 118 address has a one to one relationship with a logical addressof the cache 102. In one embodiment, the logical addresses of the cache102 are independent of the physical addresses of the physical storagemedia 110 for the cache 102 and the physical addresses of the physicalstorage media 110 of the cache 102 are fully associative with backingstore addresses of the backing store 118.

In one embodiment, the direct mapping module 716 maps the backing storeaddresses directly to logical addresses of the cache 102 so that thebacking store addresses of the backing store 118 and the logicaladdresses of the cache 102 are equal or equivalent. In one example ofthis embodiment, the backing store addresses and the logical addressesof the cache 102 share a lower range of the logical address space of thecache 102, such as addresses between about 0-2³², or the like.

In one embodiment, the direct mapping module 716 directly maps logicaladdresses of the cache 102 to physical addresses and/or locations on thephysical storage media 110 of the cache 102. In a further embodiment,the direct mapping module 716 uses a single mapping structure to mapbacking store addresses to logical addresses of the cache 102 and to maplogical addresses of the cache 102 to locations on the physical storagemedia 110 of the cache 102. The mapping structure, in variousembodiments, may include a B-tree, B*-tree, B+-tree, a CAM, a binarytree, a hash table, an index, an array, a linked-list, a look-up table,or another mapping data structure.

Use of a B-tree as the mapping structure in certain embodiments, isparticularly advantageous where the logical address space presented tothe client is a very large address space (such as 2⁶⁴ addressable blocksor the like—which may or may not be sparsely populated). Because B-treesmaintain an ordered structure, searching such a large space remains veryfast. For example, in one embodiment, the mapping structure includes aB-tree with multiple nodes and each node may store several entries. Inthe example embodiment, each entry may map a variable sized range oflogical addresses of the cache 102 to a location (such as a startinglocation) on the physical storage media 110 of the cache 102.Furthermore, the number of nodes in the B-tree may vary as the B-treegrows wider and/or deeper.

In one embodiment, the mapping structure of the direct mapping module716 only includes a node or entry for logical addresses of the cache 102that are associated with currently cached data in the cache 102. In thisembodiment, membership in the mapping structure represents membership inthe cache 102. The direct mapping module 716, in one embodiment, addsentries, nodes, and the like to the mapping structure as data is storedin the cache and removes entries, nodes, and the like from the mappingstructure in response to data being evicted, cleared, trimmed, orotherwise removed from the cache 102.

Similarly, membership in the mapping structure may represent validallocated blocks on the solid-state storage media 110. The solid-statestorage controller 104 (and/or the direct mapping module 716), in oneembodiment, adds entries, nodes, and the like to the mapping structureas data is stored on the solid-state storage media 110 and removesentries, nodes, and the like from the mapping structure in response todata being invalidated cleared, trimmed, or otherwise removed from thesolid-state storage media 110. In the case where the mapping structureis shared for both cache management and data storage management on thesolid-state storage media 110, the pool indicator module 706 describedabove, in certain embodiments, may also track pool membership, whetherthe data is dirty or clean to determine whether the data is persisted onthe backing store 118, or the like.

In a further embodiment, as described below with regard to themembership metadata module 718, the mapping structure of the directmapping module 716 may include one or more nodes or entries for logicaladdresses of the cache 102 that are not associated with currently storeddata in the cache 102, but that are associated with evicted data thatthe cache 102 no longer stores, associated with read data that the cache102 does not yet store, mapped to addresses of the backing store 118that currently store data, or the like. The nodes or entries for logicaladdresses of the cache 102 that are not associated with currently storeddata in the cache 102, in one embodiment, are not mapped to locations onthe physical storage media 110 of the cache 102, but include anindicator that the cache 102 does not store data corresponding to thelogical addresses and that the data has been evicted or that the cache102 does not yet store the data. The nodes or entries, in a furtherembodiment, may include information that the data resides in the backingstore 118. For example, in certain embodiments, the mapping structure ofthe direct mapping module 716 may include nodes or entries for readmisses, data of which the backing store 118 stores but the cache 102does not currently store. The direct mapping module 716, in oneembodiment, may maintain metadata such as a read request count oranother frequency count in entries for data that the cache 102 does notyet store, and the read request module 720, described below, may storethe data in the cache 102, adding the data to a read pool, in responseto the read request count satisfying a read request threshold number ofread requests, or the like. Various embodiments where the direct mappingmodule 716 stores metadata in a mapping structure are described belowwith regard to FIGS. 11A-D.

Nodes, entries, records, or the like of the mapping structure, in oneembodiment, may include information (such as physical addresses,offsets, indicators, etc.) directly, as part of the mapping structure,or may include pointers, references, or the like for locatinginformation in memory, in a table, or in another data structure. Thedirect mapping module 716, in one embodiment, optimizes the mappingstructure by monitoring the shape of the mapping structure, monitoringthe size of the mapping structure, balancing the mapping structure,enforcing one or more predefined rules with regard to the mappingstructure, ensuring that leaf nodes of the mapping structure are at thesame depth, combining nodes, splitting nodes, and/or otherwiseoptimizing the mapping structure.

The direct mapping module 716, in one embodiment, stores the mappingstructure on the solid-state storage media 110 of the cache 102. Bystoring the mapping structure on the cache 102, in a further embodiment,the mapping of addresses of the backing store 118 to the logicaladdresses of the cache 102 and/or the mapping of the logical addressesof the cache 102 to locations on the physical storage media 110 of thecache 102 are persistent, even if the cache 102 is subsequently pairedwith a different host device 114. In one embodiment, the backing store118 is also subsequently paired with the different host device 114. In afurther embodiment, the cache 102 rebuilds or restores at least aportion of data from the backing store 118 on a new storage deviceassociated with the different host device 114, based on the mappingstructure and data stored on the cache 102.

In one embodiment, the direct mapping module 716 determines one or morefactors of the grooming cost of a selected region for the groomer module704 based on a history of access to the mapping structure. The directmapping module 716, in a further embodiment, identifies areas of highfrequency, “hot,” use and/or low frequency, “cold,” use by monitoringaccesses of branches or nodes in the mapping structure. The directmapping module 716, in a further embodiment, determines a count orfrequency of access to a branch, directed edge, or node in the mappingstructure. In one embodiment, a count associated with each node of ab-tree like mapping structure may be incremented for each I/O readoperation and/or each I/O write operation that visits the node in atraversal of the mapping structure. Of course, in certain embodiments,separate read counts and write counts may be maintained for each node.Certain counts may be aggregated to different levels in the mappingstructure in other embodiments.

The direct mapping module 716, in one embodiment, shares informationwith other modules such as the read pool module 604, the dirty writepool module 606, the clean write pool module 702, the groomer module704, the destage module 708, and/or the membership metadata module 718,to increase the efficiency of the cache 102, to reduce cache misses, tomake intelligent eviction decisions, and the like. In one embodiment,the direct mapping module 716 tracks or monitors a frequency that I/Orequests access logical addresses in the mapping structure. The directmapping module 716, in a further embodiment, stores the access frequencyinformation in the mapping structure, communicates the access frequencyinformation to the groomer module 704, or the like. The direct mappingmodule 716, in another embodiment, may track, collect, or monitor otherusage/access statistics relating to the logical to physical mapping ofaddresses for the cache 102 and/or relating to the mapping between thelogical address space of the cache 102 and the address space of thebacking store 118, and may share that data with the groomer module 704.

One example of a benefit of sharing information between the directmapping module 716 and other modules, in certain embodiments, is thatwrite amplification can be reduced. As described above, in oneembodiment, the groomer module 704 copies certain valid data in aselected region forward to the current append point of the log-basedappend-only writing structure of the cache 102 before recovering thephysical storage capacity of the selected region. By cooperating withthe destage module 708 and/or the direct mapping module 716, in oneembodiment, the groomer module 704 may clear certain valid data from aregion without copying the data forward (for example because a groomingcost algorithm for the groomer module 704 indicates that the valid datais unlikely to be re-requested soon, giving the region a low groomingcost), reducing write amplification, increasing available physicalstorage capacity and efficiency. The groomer module 704 can even clearvalid user write data from an erase block, so long as the destage module708 has destaged the data to the backing store 118.

For example, in one embodiment, the groomer module 704 preserves validdata with an access frequency in the mapping structure that is above apredefined threshold, and clears valid data from an erase block if thevalid data has an access frequency below the predefined threshold, asdescribed above with regard to the frequent data module 730. An accessfrequency in the mapping structure, in another embodiment, maytransition data from a recent read pool to a frequent read pool, or thelike. In a further embodiment, the eviction module 732 may mark certaindata as conditionally evictable, conditionally invalid, or the like, andthe groomer module 704 may evict the conditionally invalid data based onan access frequency or other data that the direct mapping module 716provides. In another example, the destage module 708, the direct mappingmodule 716, and the groomer module 704 may cooperate such that validdata that is in the cache 102 and is dirty gets stored on the backingstore 118 by the destage module 708 rather than copied to the front ofthe log, or the like.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate a variety of other examplesand scenarios in which the modules responsible for managing thenon-volatile storage media 110 that uses a log-based append-only writingstructure can leverage the information available in the direct cachemodule 116 b. Furthermore, those of skill in the art will appreciate avariety of other examples and scenarios in which the modules responsiblefor managing the cache 102 (read pool module 604, dirty write poolmodule 606, clean write pool module 702, groomer module 704, destagemodule 708, and/or direct mapping module 716) can leverage theinformation available in solid-state controller 104 regarding thecondition of the non-volatile storage media 110.

In one embodiment, the membership metadata module 718 maintains metadatafor data that the cache 102 does not currently store, such as data thatthe eviction module 732 has evicted from the cache 102 (e.g. read dataevicted from the read pool, clean write data evicted from the cleanwrite pool), data that has not yet been admitted to the cache 102, orthe like. In another embodiment, the membership metadata module 718 maymaintain metadata for data that the cache 102 does currently store. Themembership metadata module 718, in a further embodiment, maintainsmetadata as one or more entries for the un-stored and/or evicted data ina mapping structure of the direct mapping module 716, or the like. Forexample, in one embodiment, the membership metadata module 718 updatesthe mapping structure and/or metadata associated with the mappingstructure to indicate that the physical storage media 110 of the cache102 does not store the evicted data, such as pointing a logical addressor range of logical addresses associated with the evicted data to aninvalid or null location. In another embodiment, the membership metadatamodule 718 maintains metadata that includes one or more pool membershipindicators from the pool indicator module 706 indicating from which datapool evicted data was evicted, such as read/write indicators,dirty/clean indicators, recent/frequent indicators, valid/invalidindicators, or the like. The membership module 718, in a furtherembodiment, maintains a frequency count, such as a read request count ora write request count, for un-stored and/or evicted data.

In one embodiment, the read pool module 604 inserts previously evicteddata directly to the frequent read pool of the cache 102 based on themetadata from the membership metadata module 718 for the evicted data,instead of adding the evicted data to the recent read pool of the cache102, or the like. In another embodiment, the read pool module 604inserts un-stored data directly to the frequent read pool of the cache102 based on the metadata from the membership metadata module 718 forthe un-stored data. For example, if a frequency count such as a readrequest count for un-stored data satisfies a membership threshold, theread pool module 604 may add the un-stored data directly to the frequentread pool of the cache 102. In such an embodiment, the recent pool thatthe recent pool module 724 manages may comprise a virtual data pool withdata that the cache 102 does not currently store, represented bymembership metadata maintained by the membership metadata module 718 orthe like.

The membership metadata module 718, in a further embodiment, expires orages out metadata after a predefined amount of time without a subsequentread and/or write request for the data, or the like. By leaving nodes orentries for evicted data in the mapping structure of the direct mappingmodule 716, in one embodiment, the eviction module 732 and/or the directmapping module 716 may reduce the number of accesses to the storagemedia 110 of the cache 102 used for evicting the data, by leaving thenodes or entries dangling instead of reading the storage media 110 tolocate the nodes or entries using a reverse map, or the like.Embodiments of mapping structures that includes membership metadata aredescribed below with regard to FIGS. 11A-D.

In one embodiment, the read request module 720 services read requestsfor data stored in the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118. The readrequest module 720, in one embodiment, detects a read request toretrieve requested data from the backing store 118. In a furtherembodiment, the read request module 720 receives read requests from thehost device 114. A read request is a read command with an indicator,such as a logical address or range of logical addresses, of the databeing requested. In one embodiment, the read request module 720 supportsread requests with several contiguous and/or noncontiguous ranges oflogical addresses, as discussed above with regard to the write requestmodule 712. The read request module 720, in a further embodiment,cooperates with the storage request module 602 to detect read requests.

In the depicted embodiment, the read request module 720 includes a readmiss module 734 and a read retrieve module 736. The read miss module734, in one embodiment, determines whether or not requested data isstored in the cache 102. The read miss module 734 may query the cache102 directly, query the direct mapping module 716, query the mappingstructure of the direct mapping module 716, or the like to determinewhether or not requested data is stored in the cache 102.

The read retrieve module 736, in one embodiment, returns requested datato the requesting entity, such as the host device 114. If the read missmodule 734 determines that the cache 102 stores the requested data, inone embodiment, the read retrieve module 736 reads the requested datafrom the cache 102 and returns the data to the requesting entity. Thedirect mapping module 716, in one embodiment, provides the read retrievemodule 736 with one or more physical addresses of the requested data inthe cache 102 by mapping one or more logical addresses of the requesteddata to the one or more physical addresses of the requested data.

If the read miss module 734 determines that the cache 102 does not storethe requested data, in one embodiment, the read retrieve module 736reads the requested data from the backing store 118, writes therequested data to the cache 102, and returns the requested data to therequesting entity. In one embodiment, the read retrieve module 736writes the requested data to the cache 102 by appending the requesteddata to an append point of a log-based writing structure of the cache102. In a further embodiment, the read retrieve module 736 provides oneor more physical addresses corresponding to the append point to thedirect mapping module 716 with the one or more logical addresses of therequested data and the direct mapping module 716 adds and/or updates themapping structure with the mapping of logical and physical addresses forthe requested data. The read retrieve module 736, in one embodiment,writes the requested data to the cache 102 using and/or in conjunctionwith the cache write module 714.

In certain embodiments, the read retrieve module 736 determines whetherto store requested data from a read request in the cache 102 based onmembership metadata maintained by the membership metadata 718 describedabove. If the read retrieve module 736 determines not to store requesteddata of a read request in the cache 102, the membership metadata 718 mayupdate the membership metadata, such as a read request count or otherfrequency count. In one embodiment, the read retrieve module 736 maystore requested data of a read request in the cache 102 in response to afrequency count, such as a read request count or write request count,for an address or address range of the read request satisfying amembership threshold or the like. For example, the read retrieve module736 may store requested data of a read request in the cache 102 inresponse to a predefined number of read requests for the requested dataor satisfying another predefined membership threshold, such as apreadmission threshold for un-stored data or a readmission threshold forevicted data.

In one embodiment, the read miss module 734 detects a partial miss,where the cache 102 stores one portion of the requested data but doesnot store another. A partial miss, in various embodiments, may be theresult of eviction of the previously stored data, a block I/O requestfor noncontiguous data, or the like. The read miss module 734, in oneembodiment, reads the missing data or “hole” data from the backing store118 and returns both the portion of the requested data from the cache102 and the portion of the requested data from the backing store 118 tothe requesting entity. In one embodiment, the read miss module 734stores the missing data retrieved from the backing store 118 in thecache 102.

In one embodiment, the backing store interface module 722 provides aninterface between the direct cache module 116 b, the cache 102, and/orthe backing store 118. As described above with regard to FIG. 5, invarious embodiments, the direct cache module 116 b may interact with thecache 102 and/or the backing store 118 through a block device interface,a direct interface, a device driver on the host device 114, a storagecontroller, or the like. In one embodiment, the backing store interfacemodule 722 provides the direct cache module 116 b with access to one ormore of these interfaces. For example, the backing store interfacemodule 722 may receive read commands, write commands, and clear (orTRIM) commands from one or more of the cache write module 714, thedirect mapping module 716, the read request module 720, the destagemodule 708, the groomer module 704, and the like and relay the commandsto the cache 102 and/or the backing store 118. In a further embodiment,the backing store interface module 722 may translate or format a commandinto a format compatible with an interface for the cache 102 and/or thebacking store 118.

In one embodiment, the backing store interface module 722 has exclusiveownership over the backing store 118 and the direct cache module 116 bis an exclusive gateway to accessing the backing store 118. Providingthe backing store interface module 722 with exclusive ownership over thebacking store 118 and preventing access to the backing store 118 byother routes obviates stale data issues and cache coherencyrequirements, because all changes to data in the backing store 118 areprocessed by the direct cache module 116 b.

In a further embodiment, the backing store interface module 722 does nothave exclusive ownership of the backing store 118, and the backing storeinterface module 722 manages cache coherency for the cache 102. Forexample, in various embodiments, the backing store interface module 722may access a common directory with other users of the backing store 118to maintain coherency, may monitor write operations from other users ofthe backing store 118, may participate in a predefined coherencyprotocol with other users of the backing store 118, or the like.

FIG. 8 depicts one embodiment of cache pools 800, including a write pool802 and a read pool 804. The write pool 802, in the depicted embodiment,includes a clean write pool 806 and a dirty write pool 808. The readpool 804, as depicted, includes a recent read pool 810 and a frequentread pool 812. The direct cache module 116, in one embodiment, managesand adjusts sizes of the write pool 802, including the clean write pool806 and the dirty write pool 808, and the read pool 804, including therecent read pool 810 and the frequent read pool 812, to maximize a dirtywrite hit rate 808 and/or a read hit rate of the cache 102.

In the depicted embodiment, the dirty write pool module 606 and theclean write pool module 702 determine a target write pool size 814 forthe write pool 802 as a sum of a target clean write pool size 818 and atarget dirty write pool size 820. The read pool module 604, in thedepicted embodiment, determines a target read pool size 816 for the readpool 804 as a sum of a target recent read pool size 824 determined bythe recent pool module 724 and a target frequent read pool size 826determined by the frequent pool module 726.

In the depicted embodiment, the dirty write pool module 606 manages thedirty write pool 808 to remain within a maximum dirty write pool size822. In one embodiment, even if the target dirty write pool size 820 isgreater than the maximum dirty write pool size 822, the dirty write poolmodule 606 maintains the actual size of the dirty write pool 808 withinthe maximum dirty write pool size 822. In a further embodiment, thedirty write pool module 808 ensures that the target dirty write poolsize 820 does not exceed the maximum dirty write pool size 822. Asdescribed above, in certain embodiments, the dirty write pool module 606adjusts a size of the dirty write pool 808 by setting a destage rate atwhich the destage module 708 destages dirty data from the dirty writepool 808 to the backing store 118, transitioning the destaged data tothe clean write pool 806.

The combined size of the target write pool size 814 and the target readpool size 816 (and similarly the combined size of the target clean writepool size 818, the target dirty write pool size 820, the target recentread pool size 824, and the target frequent read pool size 826), in thedepicted embodiment, is less than or equal to a usable storage capacityof the cache 102. In one embodiment, the read pool module 604, the dirtywrite pool module 606, and/or the clean write pool module 702 constrainthe target sizes 814, 816, 818, 820, 824, 826 such that their combinedsize remains less than or equal to a usable storage capacity of thecache 102. In a further embodiment, while the combined actual sizes ofthe clean write pool 806, the dirty write pool 808, the recent read pool810, and the frequent read pool 812 remain less than or equal to ausable storage capacity of the cache 102, the combined size of thetarget sizes 814, 816, 818, 820, 824, 826 may exceed the usable storagecapacity of the cache 102 as the read pool module 604, the dirty writepool module 606, and/or the clean write pool module 702 adjust thetarget sizes 814, 816, 818, 820, 824, 826.

In the depicted embodiment, the actual size of the clean write pool 806is greater than the target clean write pool size 818 and the actual sizeof the recent read pool 810 is greater than the target recent read poolsize 824. The eviction module 732, in certain embodiments, selectivelyevicts data from the clean write pool 806 and the recent read pool 810so that the actual sizes of the clean write pool 806 and the recent readpool 810 decrease, moving toward the target clean write pool size 818and the target recent read pool size 824. In the depicted embodiment,the target dirty write pool size 820 is substantially similar to theactual size of the dirty write pool 808. In one embodiment, the dirtywrite pool module 606 sets the destage rate for the destage module 708at a level to balance or compensate for additions to the dirty writepool 808 due to write requests, to maintain the actual size of the dirtywrite pool 808 at the target dirty write pool size 820. In a furtherembodiment, as the clean write pool module 702 and the recent read poolmodule 724 decrease the actual sizes of the clean write pool 806 and therecent read pool 810 and as the dirty write pool module 606 maintainsthe size of the dirty write pool 808, the actual size of the frequentread pool 812 will increase toward the target frequent read pool size826 as data transitions from the recent read pool 810 to the frequentread pool 812.

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a forward map 904and a reverse map 922. Typically, the direct cache module 116 detectsand/or receives a storage request, such as storage request to read anaddress. For example, the direct cache module 116 may receive a logicalblock storage request 902 to start reading read address “182” and read 3blocks. Typically the forward map 904 stores logical block addresses asvirtual/logical addresses along with other virtual/logical addresses sothe direct mapping module 716 uses forward map 904 to identify aphysical address from the virtual/logical address “182” of the storagerequest 902. In the example, for simplicity, only logical addresses thatare numeric are shown, but one of skill in the art will recognize thatany logical address may be used and represented in the forward map 904.A forward map 904, in other embodiments, may include alpha-numericalcharacters, hexadecimal characters, and the like. The forward map 904 isone embodiment of a mapping structure described above with regard to thedirect mapping module 716.

In the example, the forward map 904 is a simple B-tree. In otherembodiments, the forward map 904 may be a CAM, a binary tree, a hashtable, or other data structure known to those of skill in the art. Inthe depicted embodiment, a B-Tree includes nodes (e.g. the root node908) that may include entries of two logical addresses. Each entry, inone embodiment, may include a range of logical addresses. For example, alogical address may be in the form of a logical identifier with a range(e.g. offset and length) or may represent a range using a first and alast address or location. In a further embodiment, each entry mayinclude an indicator of whether the included range of data is dirty orclean (not shown).

Where a single logical address or range of logical addresses is includedat a particular node, such as the root node 908, if a logical address906 being searched is lower than the logical address or addresses of thenode, the search will continue down a directed edge 910 to the left ofthe node 908. If the searched logical address 906 matches the currentnode 908 (i.e., is located within the range identified in the node), thesearch stops and the pointer, link, physical address, etc. at thecurrent node 908 is identified. If the searched logical address 906 isgreater than the range of the current node 908, the search continuesdown directed edge 912 to the right of the current node 908. Where anode includes two logical addresses or ranges of logical addresses and asearched logical address 906 falls between the listed logical addressesof the node, the search continues down a center directed edge (notshown) to nodes with logical addresses that fall between the two logicaladdresses or ranges of logical addresses of the current node 908. Asearch continues down the B-tree until either locating a desired logicaladdress or determining that the searched logical address 906 does notexist in the B-tree. As described above, in one embodiment, membershipin the B-tree denotes membership in the cache 102, and determining thatthe searched logical address 906 is not in the B-tree is a cache miss.

In the example depicted in FIG. 9, the direct mapping module 716searches for logical address “182” 906 starting at the root node 908.Since the searched logical address 906 is lower than the logical addressof 205-212 in the root node 908, the direct mapping module 716 searchesdown the directed edge 910 to the left to the next node 914. Thesearched logical address “182” 906 is greater than the logical address(072-083) stored in the next node 914 so the direct mapping module 716searches down a directed edge 916 to the right of the node 914 to thenext node 918. In this example, the next node 918 includes a logicaladdress of 178-192 so that the searched logical address “182” 906matches the logical address 178-192 of this node 918 because thesearched logical address “182” 906 falls within the range 178-192 of thenode 918.

Once the direct mapping module 716 determines a match in the forward map904, the direct mapping module 716 returns a physical address, eitherfound within the node 918 or linked to the node 918. In the depictedexample, the node 918 identified by the direct mapping module 716 ascontaining the searched logical address 906 includes a link “f” thatmaps to an entry 920 in the reverse map 922.

In the depicted embodiment, for each entry 920 in the reverse map 922(depicted as a row in a table), the reverse map 922 includes an entry ID924, a physical address 926, a data length 928 associated with the datastored at the physical address 926 on the solid-state storage media 110(in this case the data is compressed), a valid tag 930, a logicaladdress 932 (optional), a data length 934 (optional) associated with thelogical address 932, and other miscellaneous data 936. In a furtherembodiment, the reverse map 922 may include an indicator of whether thephysical address 926 stores dirty or clean data, or the like. Thereverse map 922 is organized into erase blocks (erase regions). In thisexample, the entry 920 that corresponds to the selected node 918 islocated in erase block n 938. Erase block n 938 is preceded by eraseblock n−1 940 and followed by erase block n+1 942 (the contents of eraseblocks n−1 and n+1 are not shown). An erase block may be some eraseregion that includes a predetermined number of pages. An erase region isan area in the solid-state storage media 110 erased together in astorage recovery operation.

While the entry ID 924 is shown as being part of the reverse map 922,the entry ID 924 may be an address, a virtual link, or other means totie an entry in the reverse map 922 to a node in the forward map 904.The physical address 926 is an address in the solid-state storage media110 where data that corresponds to the searched logical address 906resides. The data length 928 associated with the physical address 926identifies a length of the data packet stored at the physical address926. (Together the physical address 926 and data length 928 may becalled destination parameters 944 and the logical address 932 andassociated data length 934 may be called source parameters 946 forconvenience.) In the example, the data length 928 of the destinationparameters 944 is different from the data length 934 of the sourceparameters 946 in one embodiment compression the data packet stored onthe solid-state storage media 110 was compressed prior to storage. Forthe data associated with the entry 920, the data was highly compressibleand was compressed from 64 blocks to 1 block.

The valid tag 930 indicates if the data mapped to the entry 920 is validor not. In this case, the data associated with the entry 920 is validand is depicted in FIG. 9 as a “Y” in the row of the entry 920.Typically the reverse map 922 tracks both valid and invalid data and theforward map 904 tracks valid data. In the example, entry “c” 948indicates that data associated with the entry 948 is invalid. Note thatthe forward map 904 does not include logical addresses associated withentry “c” 948. The reverse map 922 typically maintains entries forinvalid data so that valid and invalid data can be quickly distinguishedduring a storage recovery operation. In certain embodiments, the forwardmap 904 and/or the reverse map 922 may track dirty and clean data in asimilar manner to distinguish dirty data from clean data.

The depicted reverse map 922 includes source parameters 946 forconvenience, but the reverse map 922 may or may not include the sourceparameters 946. For example, if the source parameters 946 are storedwith the data, possibly in a header of the stored data, the reverse map922 could identify a logical address indirectly by including a physicaladdress 926 associated with the data and the source parameters 946 couldbe identified from the stored data. One of skill in the art willrecognize when storing source parameters 946 in a reverse map 922 wouldbe beneficial.

The reverse map 922 may also include other miscellaneous data 936, suchas a file name, object name, source data, etc. One of skill in the artwill recognize other information useful in a reverse map 922. Whilephysical addresses 926 are depicted in the reverse map 922, in otherembodiments, physical addresses 926, or other destination parameters944, may be included in other locations, such as in the forward map 904,an intermediate table or data structure, etc.

Typically, the reverse map 922 is arranged by erase block or eraseregion so that traversing a section of the map associated with an eraseblock (e.g. erase block n 938) allows the groomer module 704 to identifyvalid data in the erase block 938 and to quantify an amount of validdata, or conversely invalid data, in the erase block 938. Similarly, thedestage module 708, in certain embodiments, may traverse the reverse map922 and/or the forward map 904 to locate dirty data for destaging, toquantify an amount of dirty data and/or clean data, or the like.Arranging an index into a forward map 904 that can be quickly searchedto identify a physical address 926 from a logical address 906 and areverse map 922 that can be quickly searched to identify valid data andquantity of valid data (and/or dirty data) in an erase block 938 isbeneficial because the index may be optimized for searches, storagerecovery, and/or destaging operations. One of skill in the art willrecognize other benefits of an index with a forward map 904 and areverse map 922.

FIG. 10 depicts one embodiment of a mapping structure 1000, a logicaladdress space 1020 of the cache 102, a combined logical address space1019 that is accessible to a storage client, a sequential, log-based,append-only writing structure 1040, and a storage device address space1070 of the backing store 118. The mapping structure 1000, in oneembodiment, is maintained by the direct mapping module 716. The mappingstructure 1000, in the depicted embodiment, is a B-tree that issubstantially similar to the forward map 904 described above with regardto FIG. 9, with several additional entries. Further, instead of linksthat map to entries in a reverse map 922, the nodes of the mappingstructure 1000 include direct references to physical locations in thecache 102. The mapping structure 1000, in various embodiments, may beused either with or without a reverse map 922. As described above withregard to the forward map 904 of FIG. 9, in other embodiments, thereferences in the mapping structure 1000 may include alpha-numericalcharacters, hexadecimal characters, pointers, links, and the like.

The mapping structure 1000, in the depicted embodiment, includes aplurality of nodes. Each node, in the depicted embodiment, is capable ofstoring two entries. In other embodiments, each node may be capable ofstoring a greater number of entries, the number of entries at each levelmay change as the mapping structure 1000 grows or shrinks through use,or the like. In a further embodiment, each entry may store one or moreindicators of whether the data corresponding to the entry is clean ordirty, valid or invalid, read data or write data, or the like.

Each entry, in the depicted embodiment, maps a variable length range oflogical addresses of the cache 102 to a physical location in the storagemedia 110 for the cache 102. Further, while variable length ranges oflogical addresses, in the depicted embodiment, are represented by astarting address and an ending address, in other embodiments, a variablelength range of addresses may be represented by a starting address and alength or by another representation. In one embodiment, the capitalletters ‘A’ through ‘M’ represent a logical or physical erase block inthe physical storage media 110 of the cache 102 that stores the data ofthe corresponding range of logical addresses. In other embodiments, thecapital letters may represent other physical addresses or locations ofthe cache 102. In the depicted embodiment, the capital letters ‘A’through ‘M’ are also depicted in the writing structure 1040 whichrepresents the physical storage media 110 of the cache 102. Althougheach range of logical addresses maps simply to an entire erase block, inthe depicted embodiment, for simplicity of description, in otherembodiments, a single erase block may store a plurality of ranges oflogical addresses, ranges of logical addresses may cross erase blockboundaries, and the like.

In the depicted embodiment, membership in the mapping structure 1000denotes membership (or storage) in the cache 102. In another embodiment,an entry may further include an indicator of whether the cache 102stores data corresponding to a logical block within the range of logicaladdresses, data of the reverse map 922 described above, and/or otherdata. For example, in one embodiment, the mapping structure 1000 mayalso map logical addresses of the backing store 118 to physicaladdresses or locations within the backing store 118, and an entry mayinclude an indicator that the cache 102 does not store the data and aphysical address or location for the data on the backing store 118. Inanother embodiment, described below with regard to FIGS. 11A-D, themapping structure 1000 may also store logical addresses or othermetadata corresponding to data that the eviction module 732 has evictedfrom the cache 102. The mapping structure 1000, in the depictedembodiment, is accessed and traversed in a similar manner as thatdescribed above with regard to the forward map 904.

In the depicted embodiment, the root node 908 includes entries 1002,1004 with noncontiguous ranges of logical addresses. A “hole” exists atlogical address “208” between the two entries 1002, 1004 of the rootnode. In one embodiment, a “hole” indicates that the cache 102 does notstore data corresponding to one or more logical addresses correspondingto the “hole.” In one embodiment, a “hole” may exist because the groomermodule 704 evicted data corresponding to the “hole” from the cache 102.If the groomer module 704 evicted data corresponding to a “hole,” in oneembodiment, the backing store 118 still stores data corresponding to the“hole.” In another embodiment, the cache 102 and/or the backing store118 supports block I/O requests (read, write, trim, etc.) with multiplecontiguous and/or noncontiguous ranges of addresses (i.e., ranges thatinclude one or more “holes” in them). A “hole,” in one embodiment, maybe the result of a single block I/O request with two or morenoncontiguous ranges of addresses. In a further embodiment, a “hole” maybe the result of several different block I/O requests with addressranges bordering the “hole.”

In FIG. 9, the root node 908 includes a single entry with a logicaladdress range of “205-212,” without the hole at logical address “208.”If the entry of the root node 908 were a fixed size cache line of atraditional cache, the entire range of logical addresses “205-212” wouldbe evicted together. Instead, in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 10, thegroomer module 704 evicts data of a single logical address “208” andsplits the range of logical addresses into two separate entries 1002,1004. In one embodiment, the direct mapping module 716 may rebalance themapping structure 1000, adjust the location of a directed edge, rootnode, or child node, or the like in response to splitting a range oflogical addresses. Similarly, in one embodiment, each range of logicaladdresses may have a dynamic and/or variable length, allowing the cache102 to store dynamically selected and/or variable lengths of logicalblock ranges.

In the depicted embodiment, similar “holes” or noncontiguous ranges oflogical addresses exist between the entries 1006, 1008 of the node 914,between the entries 1010, 1012 of the left child node of the node 914,between entries 1014, 1016 of the node 918, and between entries of thenode 1018. In one embodiment, similar “holes” may also exist betweenentries in parent nodes and child nodes. For example, in the depictedembodiment, a “hole” of logical addresses “060-071” exists between theleft entry 1006 of the node 914 and the right entry 1012 of the leftchild node of the node 914.

The “hole” at logical address “003,” in the depicted embodiment, canalso be seen in the logical address space 1020 of the cache 102 atlogical address “003” 1030. The hash marks at logical address “003” 1030represent an empty location, or a location for which the cache 102 doesnot store data. In the depicted embodiment, storage device address “003”1080 of the storage device address space 1070 does store data(identified as ‘b’), indicating that the eviction module 732 evicteddata from logical address “003” 1030 of the cache 102. The “hole” atlogical address 1034 in the logical address space 1020, however, has nocorresponding data in storage device address 1084, indicating that the“hole” is due to one or more block I/O requests with noncontiguousranges, a trim or other deallocation command to both the cache 102 andthe backing store 118, or the like.

The “hole” at logical address “003” 1030 of the logical address space1020, however, in one embodiment, is not viewable or detectable to astorage client. In the depicted embodiment, the combined logical addressspace 1019 represents the data that is available to a storage client,with data that is stored in the cache 102 and data that is stored in thebacking store 118 but not in the cache 102. As described above, the readmiss module 734 of FIG. 7 handles misses and returns requested data to arequesting entity. In the depicted embodiment, if a storage clientrequests data at logical address “003” 1030, the read miss module 734will retrieve the data from the backing store 118, as depicted ataddress “003” 1080 of the storage device address space 1070, and returnthe requested data to the storage client. The requested data at logicaladdress “003” 1030 may then also be placed back in the cache 102 andthus logical address 1030 would indicate ‘b’ as present in the cache102.

For a partial miss, the read miss module 734 may return a combination ofdata from both the cache 102 and the backing store 118. For this reason,the combined logical address space 1019 includes data ‘b’ at logicaladdress “003” 1030 and the “hole” in the logical address space 1020 ofthe cache 102 is transparent. In the depicted embodiment, the combinedlogical address space 1019 is the size of the logical address space 1020of the cache 102 and is larger than the storage device address space1080. In another embodiment, the direct cache module 116 may size thecombined logical address space 1019 as the size of the storage deviceaddress space 1080, or as another size.

The logical address space 1020 of the cache 102, in the depictedembodiment, is larger than the physical storage capacity andcorresponding storage device address space 1070 of the backing store118. In the depicted embodiment, the cache 102 has a 64 bit logicaladdress space 1020 beginning at logical address “0” 1022 and extendingto logical address “2⁶⁴-1” 1026. The storage device address space 1070begins at storage device address “0” 1072 and extends to storage deviceaddress “N” 1074. Storage device address “N” 1074, in the depictedembodiment, corresponds to logical address “N” 1024 in the logicaladdress space 1020 of the cache 102. Because the storage device addressspace 1070 corresponds to only a subset of the logical address space1020 of the cache 102, the rest of the logical address space 1020 may beshared with an additional cache 102, may be mapped to a differentbacking store 118, may store data in the cache 102 (such as aNon-volatile memory cache) that is not stored in the storage device1070, or the like.

For example, in the depicted embodiment, the first range of logicaladdresses “000-002” 1028 stores data corresponding to the first range ofstorage device addresses “000-002” 1078. Data corresponding to logicaladdress “003” 1030, as described above, was evicted from the cache 102forming a “hole” and a potential cache miss. The second range of logicaladdresses “004-059” 1032 corresponds to the second range of storagedevice addresses “004-059” 1082. However, the final range of logicaladdresses 1036 extending from logical address “N” 1024 extends beyondstorage device address “N” 1074. No storage device address in thestorage device address space 1070 corresponds to the final range oflogical addresses 1036. The cache 102 may store the data correspondingto the final range of logical addresses 1036 until the data backingstore 118 is replaced with larger storage or is expanded logically,until an additional data backing store 118 is added, simply use thenon-volatile storage capability of the cache 102 to indefinitely providestorage capacity directly to a storage client 504 independent of abacking store 118, or the like. In a further embodiment, the directcache module 116 alerts a storage client 504, an operating system, auser application 502, or the like in response to detecting a writerequest with a range of addresses, such as the final range of logicaladdresses 1036, that extends beyond the storage device address space1070. The user may then perform some maintenance or other remedialoperation to address the situation. Depending on the nature of the data,no further action may be taken. For example, the data may representtemporary data which if lost would cause no ill effects.

The sequential, log-based, append-only writing structure 1040, in thedepicted embodiment, is a logical representation of the log preserved inthe physical storage media 110 of the cache 102. In a furtherembodiment, the backing store 118 may use a substantially similarsequential, log-based, append-only writing structure 1040. In certainembodiments, the cache 102 stores data sequentially, appending data tothe writing structure 1040 at an append point 1044. The cache 102, in afurther embodiment, uses a storage space recovery process, such as thegroomer module 704 that re-uses non-volatile storage media 110 storingdeallocated, unused, or evicted logical blocks. Non-volatile storagemedia 110 storing deallocated, unused, or evicted logical blocks, in thedepicted embodiment, is added to an available storage pool 1046 for thecache 102. By evicting and clearing certain data from the cache 102, asdescribed above, and adding the physical storage capacity correspondingto the evicted and/or cleared data back to the available storage pool1046, in one embodiment, the writing structure 1040 is ring-like and hasa theoretically infinite capacity.

In the depicted embodiment, the append point 1044 progresses around thelog-based, append-only writing structure 1040 in a circular pattern1042. In one embodiment, the circular pattern 1042 wear balances thesolid-state storage media 110, increasing a usable life of thesolid-state storage media 110. In the depicted embodiment, the evictionmodule 732 and/or the cache write module 714 have marked several blocks1048, 1050, 1052, 1054 as invalid, represented by an “X” marking on theblocks 1048, 1050, 1052, 1054. The groomer module 704, in oneembodiment, will recover the physical storage capacity of the invalidblocks 1048, 1050, 1052, 1054 and add the recovered capacity to theavailable storage pool 1046. In the depicted embodiment, modifiedversions of the blocks 1048, 1050, 1052, 1054 have been appended to thewriting structure 1040 as new blocks 1056, 1058, 1060, 1062 in a read,modify, write operation or the like, allowing the original blocks 1048,1050, 1052, 1054 to be recovered. In further embodiments, the groomermodule 704 may copy forward to the append point 1044 any dirty data andselectively any valid data that the blocks 1048, 1050, 1052, 1054 store,if any.

FIG. 11A depicts one embodiment of a mapping structure 1100 and a cachemembership map 1110. In the depicted embodiment, the mapping structure1100 is substantially similar to the mapping structure 1000 of FIG. 10,with similar entries and nodes. The mapping structure 1100, in thedepicted embodiment, however, instead of mapping logical addresses tophysical locations in the cache 102 as described above with regard toFIGS. 9 and 10, maps logical addresses to pseudo identifiers 1112 in thecache membership map 1110. The cache membership map 1110 comprises asecondary mapping structure that provides a layer of abstraction betweenthe mapping structure 1100 and the storage media 110 of the cache 102.Use of the cache membership map 1110 may reduce the number of accessesto the mapping structure 1100 and/or the storage media 110.

The cache membership map 1110, in the depicted embodiment, maps pseudoidentifiers 1112 to physical locations 1114 of the storage media 110 ofthe cache 102, with a NULL physical location 1114 or another predefinedinvalid physical location 1114 indicating that the eviction module 732has evicted the data of the corresponding logical address or range oflogical addresses, that the cache 102 does not yet store data of a readrequest, or the like. For example, in one embodiment, the physicallocation 1114 is a physical or logical erase block address (or anotherregion address) and the pseudo identifier 1112 is a pseudo erase blockaddress (or another pseudo region address). In a further embodiment, thepseudo identifier 1112 and/or the physical location 1114 may includeblock addresses, such as packet addresses, page addresses, offset, orthe like, within a region, or other additional address information.

In one embodiment, the membership metadata module 718 maintains nodesand/or entries in the mapping structure 1100 for logical addresses orranges of logical addresses that the eviction module 732 evicts from thecache 102. In the depicted embodiment, the eviction module 732 hasevicted data of logical address range “535-598” from the cache 102 andthe membership metadata module 718 maintains an evicted metadata entry1102 and node in the mapping structure 1100 for the evicted logicaladdress range mapping the range to the pseudo identifier 1112 of “C.” Inresponse to the eviction module 732 evicting the data of logical addressrange “535-598,” in the depicted embodiment, the membership metadatamodule 718 updates the cache membership map 1110 so that the physicallocation 1114 for the pseudo identifier 1112 of “C” is NULL.

In other embodiments, the membership metadata module 718 may use zero oranother predefined invalid physical location 1114 to indicate that thecache 102 does not currently store the data and/or that the evictionmodule 732 has evicted the data. The membership metadata module 718, incertain embodiments, may store other membership metadata, such as afrequency count, a pool indicator (e.g. a read/write indicator, adirty/clean indicator, a recent/frequent indicator, a valid/invalidindicator), or the like as an entry in the mapping structure 1100 and/oras an entry in the cache membership map 1110. The membership metadatamodule 718 may store membership metadata in the mapping structure 1100and/or in the cache membership map 1110 either in place of or inaddition to a physical location 1114. For example, the membershipmetadata module 718 may store membership metadata, such as a frequencycount, for one or more logical addresses when the cache 102 does notstore data associated with the one or more logical addresses, aseviction metadata, preadmission metadata, or the like. In oneembodiment, the membership metadata of the mapping structure 1100 and/orof the cache membership map 1110 comprises eviction metadata associatedwith data that the eviction module 732 evicts from the cache 102. Inanother embodiment, the membership metadata of the mapping structure1100 and/or of the cache membership map 1110 comprises preadmissionmetadata associated with data that the cache 102 does not yet store.

The membership metadata may include a frequency count, such as a readrequest count and/or write request count, for a range of one or morelogical addresses, as described above with regard to the storage requestmodule 602 and the membership metadata module 718. The read requestmodule 720 may wait a preadmission threshold number of read requestsbefore admitting un-stored data into the cache 102, may wait areadmission threshold number of read requests before readmitting evicteddata into the cache 102, or the like based on a frequency count for thedata. In embodiments where the membership metadata module 718selectively stores membership metadata, such as a frequency count or thelike, in place of a valid physical location 1114, the membershipmetadata module 718 may store the membership metadata as an entry in themapping structure 1100 and/or in the cache membership map 1110 prior tothe read request module 720 admitting corresponding data into the cache102, transition the entry to a valid physical location 1114 in responseto the read request module 720 admitting the corresponding data into thecache 102, and transition the entry back to membership metadata inresponse to the eviction module 732 evicting the corresponding data fromthe cache 102, or the like. In such embodiments, the membership metadatamay have a value that is invalid or out-of-bounds for a valid physicallocation 1114 to indicate that the entry comprises a frequency count orother membership metadata, not a valid physical location 1114. In otherembodiments, an entry may comprise a predefined bit, a flag, or anotherindicator to distinguish membership metadata from a valid physicallocation 1114.

In a further embodiment, the membership metadata module 718 stores atimestamp, a sequence number such as a block or packet number from a logof the cache 102, or the like for each block or range of evicted data,un-stored data, or the like. The membership metadata module 718 maydetermine which data has been evicted and, in certain embodiments, anorder of eviction, a time period of an eviction, or the like based onthe stored timestamps or sequence numbers. For example, the membershipmetadata module 718, in one embodiment, may compare a stored timestampor sequence number to a current time, a current sequence number of alog, an oldest sequence number of a log of the cache 102, or the like todetermine whether the eviction module 732 evicted the data, how long agothe eviction module 732 evicted data, in what order the eviction module732 evicted data, or the like. In the depicted embodiment, themembership metadata module 718 has also updated the physical location1114 corresponding to the pseudo identifier 1112 of “G” to NULL inresponse to the eviction module 732 evicting data corresponding to thelogical address range “080-083” from another entry 1008.

In one embodiment, the membership metadata module 718 periodicallyexpires or ages out entries from the mapping structure 1100 that areassociated with evicted data or other un-stored data, such as thedepicted entries 1008, 1102. For example, in certain embodiments, themembership metadata module 718 may remove the entries 1008, 1102 withevicted metadata from the mapping structure 1100 in response to apredefined time period passing without a subsequent read request for thelogical addresses of the entries 1008, 1102, or the like. In anotherembodiment, the membership metadata module 718 may periodically scan themapping structure 1100 for dangling entries and/or nodes correspondingto evicted data and remove the dangling entries and/or nodes, replacethe pseudo identifier 1112 of a dangling entry and/or node with aninvalid or NULL pseudo identifier 1112, or the like. In a furtherembodiment, upon removing, expiring, or aging out an entry from themapping structure 1100, the membership metadata module 718 reuses thepseudo identifier 1112 associated with the removed entries.

In another embodiment, entries of the mapping structure 1100 may includeeither physical locations 1114 or pseudo identifiers 1112 and thephysical locations 1114 are distinguishable from the pseudo identifiers1112, by a predefined bit, a flag, or the like. For example, in oneembodiment, the mapping structure 1100 includes a first set of entrieswith ranges of logical addresses that map to pseudo identifiers 1112 andalso includes a second set of entries with ranges of logical addressesthat map directly to a physical location 1114. The mapping structure1100 may distinguish between pseudo identifiers 1112 and physicallocations 1114 with an indicator for each entry, such as a flag, apredefined bit, or the like. For the first set of entries that include apseudo identifier 1112 without a physical location 1114, the directmapping module 716 and/or the membership metadata module 718 checks thecache membership map 1110 to either map the pseudo identifier 1112 to avalid physical location 1114 or to determine that the eviction module732 evicted the associated data. For the second set of entries thatinclude a physical location 1114, the direct mapping module 716 and/orthe membership metadata module 718, in certain embodiments, may map theentry directly to the included physical location 1114, without checkingthe cache membership map 1110.

The membership metadata module 718, in certain embodiments, mayperiodically scan the mapping structure 1100 and/or the cache membershipmap 1110 to update and/or convert between physical locations 1114 andpseudo identifiers 1112, or the like. For example, the membershipmetadata module 718 may scan the mapping structure 1100 to removeentries for evicted data, such as the “535-598” entry 1102 which maps tothe “C” pseudo identifier 1112 and a NULL physical location 1114 in thecache membership map 1110 and the “080-083” entry 1008 which maps to the“G” pseudo identifier 1112 and a NULL physical location 1114. Pruningentries for evicted data from the mapping structure 1100, in certainembodiments, may increase data structure efficiency of the mappingstructure 1100, decreasing access times and the like. The membershipmetadata module 718, upon removing the entries 1102, 1008 from themapping structure 1100, in a further embodiment, may reuse the pseudoidentifiers 1112 of “C” and “G.” In another embodiment, the membershipmetadata module 718 may scan the mapping structure 1100 to replacepseudo identifiers 1112 with physical locations 1114 for entries thatmap to valid physical locations 1114.

In other embodiments, the mapping structure 1100 and/or the cachemembership map 1110 may include additional membership metadata, such asone or more pool membership indicators for evicted data, a log ordersequence number for evicted data such as a block or packet number, afrequency count for evicted data or other un-stored data, and/or othermetadata related to evicted data or other un-stored data. In certainembodiments, the eviction module 732 may evict data from the cache 102in log order, from oldest toward newest or the like, and the membershipmetadata module 718 may use a log order sequence number to determinewhich data the eviction module 732 has evicted, by comparing the logorder sequence number to a last or oldest log order sequence number of alog of the cache 102, or the like. The membership metadata module 718may use log order sequence numbers, in various embodiments, either inplace of a cache membership map 1110, in conjunction with a cachemembership map 1110 to determine which entries to prune or remove fromthe mapping structure 1100, or the like.

In one embodiment, maintaining metadata for evicted data or otherun-stored data, such as entries and/or nodes in the mapping structure1100 and/or the cache membership map 1110, assists the direct cachemodule 116 in balancing and adjusting pool sizes by providing a historyor other metadata of the data. In other embodiments, the membershipmetadata for evicted data or other un-stored data may determine in whichpool the data is added to upon a subsequent read request for the data.For example, in certain embodiments, the read pool module 604 may adddata directly to a frequent pool upon caching the data if membershipmetadata for the data indicates that the eviction module 732 evicted thedata within a predefined amount of time, that a frequency count for thedata satisfies a preadmission or readmission threshold, or the like.

In a further embodiment, maintaining metadata for evicted data or otherun-stored data may reduce accesses to the storage media 110 of the cache102, because the eviction module 732 does not need to access a reversemap, such as the reverse map 922 or the like, when evicting the data tomap evicted data back to the data structure 1100 to remove the entrycorresponding to the evicted data, but may instead leave the entrydangling. In other embodiments, instead of using the cache membershipmap 1110 and maintaining evicted metadata in the mapping structure 1100,the eviction module 732 may access a reverse map 922 from the storagemedia 110, store a reverse map 922 in volatile memory, read a reversemap 922 from a region upon the groomer module 704 grooming the region,or the like and may remove entries and/or nodes from the mappingstructure 1100 in response to evicting data corresponding to the entriesand/or nodes.

As described above with regard to the direct mapping module 716 of FIG.7, in certain embodiments, the direct mapping module 716 may maintainentries in the mapping structure 1100 for un-stored data that the cache102 does not yet store or does not currently store. For example, inembodiments where the read request module 720 does not store data of aread request in the cache 102 until the cache 102 has received a readrequest threshold number of read requests for the data, the directmapping module 716 may maintain an entry for the data in the mappingstructure with a read request count or another frequency count. Thecache membership map 1110 may map a pseudo identifier 1112 for the entryto a NULL or other invalid physical location 1114 until the read requestcount satisfies a read request threshold and the read request module 720stores the data in the cache 102. In one embodiment, the cachemembership map 1110 uses a different invalid physical location 1114 foreviction metadata entries than for read request metadata entries, todifferentiate the two. In a further embodiment, the cache membership map1110 and/or the mapping structure 1100 include an indicator or flag todifferentiate eviction metadata entries from preadmission metadataentries.

In one embodiment, the direct mapping module 716 maintains entries fordata of a recent read pool in the mapping structure 1100 and the readrequest module 720 does not store data of the recent read pool in thecache 102 until the data transitions to a frequent read pool, satisfiesa read request threshold, or the like. In this embodiment, a recent readpool may exist logically in the mapping structure 1100 instead ofincluding data stored physically in the cache 102. In other embodiments,a recent read pool or other data pool may include both data that thecache 102 does not store (un-stored data represented by membershipmetadata in the mapping structure 1100 or the like) and data that thecache 102 does store, or may include just data that the cache 102currently stores.

FIG. 11B depicts one embodiment of a mapping structure entry 1012 and acache membership map 1120 a. In one embodiment, the mapping structureentry 1012 is substantially similar to the mapping structure entry 1012depicted in FIG. 11A, and may be an entry in the mapping structure 1100.The mapping structure entry 1012, in the depicted embodiment, mapslogical addresses “004-059” to a pseudo identifier 1112 of “K:23.” Theformat of the pseudo identifier 1112 in the mapping structure entry 1012is pseudo identifier:offset, where the offset indicates a relativeposition of data within a region corresponding to the pseudo identifier1112. In the depicted embodiment, the cache membership map 1120 a mapsthe pseudo identifier 1112 of “K” to the physical location 1114 of “50.”

For example, in one embodiment, where the physical location 1114 of “50”is an erase block or other region (such as a logical erase block) of thecache 102, the mapping structure entry 1012 and the cache membership map1120 a indicate that the cache 102 stores data corresponding to logicaladdresses “004-059” in erase block “50” starting at an offset of “23.”The offset, in various embodiments, may indicate a block number within aregion, such as a packet number, an ECC chunk number, a sector number, apage number, or the like; a relative address within a region; or anotherrelative position of a region. By including an offset in a mappingstructure entry 1012, in certain embodiments, a mapping structure 1100may map multiple logical addresses and/or ranges of logical addresses tophysical locations within the same region.

The cache membership map 1120 a, in one embodiment, is substantiallysimilar to the cache membership map 1110 described above with regard toFIG. 11A, but further includes sequence numbers 1116 corresponding tophysical locations 1114. The sequence numbers 1116, in general, identifya time, temporal order, and/or sequence that the direct cache module 116and/or the storage controller 104 write data to a sequential log-basedwriting structure of the cache 102. Each sequence number 1116 is unique.In certain embodiments, the sequence number 1116 is a monotonicallyincreasing number having a domain larger than the maximum number ofelements that can be assigned sequence numbers 1116. In variousembodiments, a sequence number 1116 may include a timestamp, a block orpacket number, a region number, or the like. For example, in oneembodiment, the storage controller 104 assigns a sequence number and/orrecords a timestamp for an erase block or other region as the storagecontroller 104 adds the erase block or other region to a sequentiallog-based writing structure of the cache 102. In a further embodiment,the storage controller 104 assigns a sequence number and/or records atimestamp for a block, such as a packet, sector, page, ECC chunk, or thelike, as the block is written to a sequential log-based writingstructure of the cache 102. As described above with regard to FIG. 2,the storage controller 104 may use timestamp and/or other sequenceinformation to replay the sequence of changes made to an index orlog-based writing structure to reestablish the most recent state of thecache 102, or the like.

FIG. 11C depicts another embodiment of mapping structure entries 1118,1120, 1122, 1124, 1126, 1128, 1130, 1132 and a cache membership map 1120b. FIG. 11C depicts one example of updates that the direct mappingmodule 716 may make to the mapping structure entry 1012 and that themembership metadata module 718 may make to the cache membership map 1120a to form the depicted cache membership map 1120 b. In one embodiment,the direct mapping module 716 and the membership metadata module 718 maymake the updates in response to the groomer module 704 selecting thelogical or physical erase block for grooming having physical location1114 of “50,” which logical or physical erase block stores datacorresponding to the logical addresses “004-059” of mapping structureentry 1012 (See FIG. 11B).

In the depicted example, upon the groomer module 704 selecting eraseblock having the physical location 114 of “50” for grooming, thefrequent data module 730 determines that the pool indicator module 706has set a frequency indicator for data at logical addresses “23,” “40,”and “50” within the range of logical addresses “004-059” from themapping structure entry 1012. In the example, there is no dirty orinvalid data in the range of logical addresses “004-059,” and the dataof the logical addresses “23,” “40,” and “50” is either in the frequentread pool 812 of the cache 102 or in the clean write pool 806 and markedas frequently accessed data, or the like.

The frequent data module 730, in the example, writes the data of logicaladdresses “23,” “40,” and “50” forward to the physical location 1114 of“20.” In another embodiment, the write forward module 710 writes thedata of logical addresses “23,” “40,” and “50” forward to the physicallocation 1114 of “20” in response to read requests for the data, or thelike. The physical location 1114 of “20,” in certain embodiments, is alogical erase block or other region at an append point of a sequentiallog-based writing structure of the cache 102, or the like.

The direct mapping module 716, in the example, updates the mappingstructure 1100 by replacing the mapping structure entry 1012 with themapping structure entries 1118, 1120, 1122, 1124, 1126, 1128, 1130,1132, splitting the range of logical addresses “004-059” to representthe new physical location 1114 of “20” for the logical addresses “23,”“40,” and “50.” Only the new mapping structure entries 1118, 1120, 1122,1124, 1126, 1128, 1130, 1132 are depicted in FIG. 11C, for clarity. Themapping structure entries 1118, 1120, 1122, 1124, 1126, 1128, 1130, 1132may be part of a larger mapping structure such as the mapping structure1100 of FIG. 11A. The direct mapping module 716 maps the physicallocation 1114 of “20” to the pseudo identifier 1112 of “Y,” with theentry 1120 mapping the logical address of “23” to the pseudo identifier1112 and offset of “Y:80,” the entry 1124 mapping the logical address of“40” to the pseudo identifier 1112 and offset of “Y:81,” and the entry1128 mapping the logical address of “50” to the pseudo identifier 1112and offset of “Y:82.” The cache membership map 1120 b maps the pseudoidentifier 1112 of “Y” to the physical location 1114 of “20” which isassociated with the sequence number 1116 of “0729.”

In one embodiment, the direct mapping module 716 and the membershipmetadata module 718 have a larger set of pseudo identifiers 1112 thanphysical locations 1114 so that there are enough pseudo identifiers 1112to map evicted/un-stored data to “NULL” or other invalid locations. Asdescribed above, with regard to FIG. 11A, the membership metadata module718 may reuse or recycle pseudo identifiers 1112 once the membershipmetadata module 718 clears logical addresses associated with the pseudoidentifiers 1112 from the mapping structure 1100 by reassigning thepseudo identifiers 1112 from “NULL” or other invalid physical locations1114 to valid physical locations 1114, or the like.

In certain embodiments, where the write forward module 710 writes dataof the logical addresses “23,” “40,” and “50,” forward on a sequentiallog-based writing structure of the cache 102 in response to a readrequest for the data or the like, the cache membership map 1120 b maycontinue to map the pseudo identifier 1112 of “K” to the physicallocation 1114 of “50” until the groomer module 704 erases, clears, orotherwise recovers storage capacity of the physical location 1114 of“50.” In one embodiment, the direct mapping module 716 and/or themembership metadata module 718 updates the physical location 1114associated with the pseudo identifier 1112 of “K” in the cachemembership map 1120 b to “NULL” or to another invalid physical location1114 in response to the groomer module 704 recovering storage capacityof the physical location 1114 of “50.”

Instead of removing the entries 1118, 1122, 1126, 1130 for the logicaladdresses of the evicted data, in the depicted embodiment, themembership metadata module 718 maintains the entries 1118, 1122, 1126,1130 as membership metadata, indicating that the cache 102 previouslystored the evicted data. By setting the physical location 1114associated with the evicted data to “NULL” without removing the entriesassociated with the evicted data from the mapping structure 1100, incertain embodiments, the membership metadata module 718 maintains themembership metadata and updates the status of the evicted data withoutaccessing or locking the mapping structure 1100.

Entries with membership metadata may also inform the read pool module604 and/or the eviction module 732 that data was prematurely evictedfrom the cache 102. As described above with regard to the membershipmetadata module 718 of FIG. 7, for example, the read pool module 604 mayplace data directly in the frequent read pool, bypassing the recent readpool, in response to a subsequent read request (or a threshold number ofread requests) for evicted data based on membership metadata indicatingthat the data was recently evicted, or the like. Maintaining membershipmetadata indicating when the eviction module 732 evicted data from thecache can increase the efficiency of the eviction module 732 and allowthe eviction module 732 to make more intelligent, informed evictiondecisions.

Use of the cache membership map 1120 b, in a further embodiment, allowsthe mapping structure 1100 to become unsynchronized with a validity mapor with other valid/invalid indicators that the pool indicator module706 maintains. In certain embodiments, as described above with regard toFIG. 11A, the membership metadata module 718 may scan the mappingstructure 1100 and/or the cache membership map 1120 b at intervals toupdate entries. In one embodiment, the membership metadata module 718scans and updates the mapping structure 1100 and/or the cache membershipmap 1120 b to synchronize with a validity map or with othervalid/invalid indicators that the pool indicator module 706 maintains.

By allowing the mapping structure 1100 and a validity map or othervalid/invalid indicators to become at least partially unsynchronized, incertain embodiments, the direct cache module 116 may reduce access tothe mapping structure 1100, maintain membership metadata for evicteddata or other un-stored data, and/or reduce access to the storage media110 while maintaining validity information using the cache membershipmap 1120 b and/or using a validity map of the pool indicator module 706.In other embodiments, instead of using a cache membership map 1120 b andmaintaining membership metadata in the mapping structure 1100, thedirect mapping module 716 may keep the mapping structure 1100substantially synchronized with a validity map or other valid/invalidindicators of the pool indicator module 706 such that membership in themapping structure 1100 indicates membership in the cache 102.

Therefore, depending on whether or not the direct cache module 116 keepsthe mapping structure 1100 synchronized with a validity map or othervalid/invalid indicators for data of the cache 102, there may bedifferent ways of determining that data of the cache is invalid, or thatthe data is not in the cache 102. First, if the direct cache module 116keeps the mapping structure 1100 synchronized with a validity map, ifone or more logical addresses for the data are not in the mappingstructure 1100, then the data is either invalid or is not stored in thecache 102. Second, if the direct cache module 116 allows the mappingstructure 1100 to continue to map invalid data and/or evicted data, ifone or more logical addresses for the data are in the mapping structure1100 and the cache membership map 1110 maps the one or more logicaladdresses to a valid physical location 1114 of the cache 102, then avalidity map or another valid/invalid indicator indicates whether or notthe data is valid. Third, if the direct cache module 116 allows themapping structure 1100 to continue to map invalid data and/or evicteddata, if one or more logical addresses for the data are in the mappingstructure 1100 and the cache membership map 1110 maps the one or morelogical addresses to an invalid or NULL physical location 1114, then thedata is either invalid or not stored in the cache 102.

FIG. 11D depicts one embodiment of a mapping structure 1140 that storesmembership metadata 1150 in entries 1142, 1144, 1146, 1148. The entries1142, 1144, 1146, 1148 that store membership metadata 1150 instead of avalid physical address are highlighted in FIG. 11D for clarity. Themapping structure 1140, in certain embodiments, may be substantiallysimilar to the mapping structure 1100 of FIG. 11A, but without a cachemembership map 1110. In other embodiments, the mapping structure 1140may be used in conjunction with a cache membership map 1110 as describedabove. The mapping structure 1140, in one embodiment, may represent asubset of a larger mapping structure.

In the depicted embodiment, the membership metadata module 718 storesmembership metadata 1150 for ranges of logical addresses in the entries1142, 1144, 1146, 1148 of the mapping structure 1140. The cache 102 doesnot currently store data for the logical address ranges of entries 1142,1144, 1146, 1148, as indicated by an invalid or out-of-range physicallocation stored in entries 1142, 1144, 1146, 1148, described in greaterdetail below. For example, the eviction module 732 may have previouslyevicted data for the logical address ranges of entries 1142, 1144, 1146,1148, the read request module 720 may have not yet admitted data for thelogical address ranges of entries 1142, 1144, 1146, 1148 into the cache102, or the like.

The format for entries of the mapping structure 1140, in the depictedembodiment, is region:offset, where the offset indicates a relativeposition of data within the corresponding region. In one embodiment, theregion comprises a logical erase block, physical erase block, or thelike and the offset comprises a packet, logical or physical page. ECCchunk, block, sector, or the like within the region. In the depictedembodiment, a value of zero (the “0:” in the region fields of entries1142, 1144, 1146, 1148) is an invalid or out-of-range value for aregion, and a value of zero in the entries 1142, 1144, 1146, 1148indicates that the cache 102 does not currently store data of thecorresponding ranges of logical addresses. The offset corresponding tothe region with a value of zero, instead of indicating an offset,comprises membership metadata 1150, such as a frequency count, a poolindicator (e.g. a read/write indicator, a dirty/clean indicator, arecent/frequent indicator, a valid/invalid indicator, or the like), asequence number, or the like. In the depicted embodiment, the offset forthe entries 1142, 1144, 1146, 1148 comprises a frequency count such as aread request count for the corresponding ranges of logical addresses. Inother embodiments, instead of replacing a physical location withmembership metadata 1150, the entries 1142, 1144, 1146, 1148 of themembership map 1140 may include one or more additional fields forstoring membership metadata 1150 separate from a physical locationfield.

In one embodiment, the membership metadata module 718 cooperates withthe direct mapping module 716 to maintain entries 1142, 1144, 1146, 1148in the mapping structure 1140 for ranges of logical addresses for whichthe cache 102 does not currently store data. The membership metadatamodule 718, in certain embodiments, may add an entry 1142, 1144, 1146,1148 with membership metadata 1150 to the mapping structure 1140 inresponse to the storage request module 602 receiving a read request fora range of one or more logical addresses, even though the data for theread request is not added to the cache. Instead of adding the data ofthe requested range of logical addresses to the cache 102, in oneembodiment, the membership metadata module 718 increments a frequencycount such as a read request count in an entry 1142, 1144, 1146, 1148until the frequency count satisfies a preadmission threshold. The readrequest module 720, in response to the frequency count of an entry 1142,1144, 1146, 1148 satisfying the preadmission threshold, stores data ofthe corresponding range of logical addresses from the backing store 118in the cache 102 and the membership metadata module 718 transitions thecorresponding entry 1142, 1144, 1146, 1148 from storing a frequencycount or other membership metadata 1150 to storing a valid physicallocation. For example, in the depicted embodiment, the membershipmetadata module 718 may change the region:offset values of an entry1142, 1144, 1146, 1148 from an invalid value (e.g. zero, NULL) and afrequency count to the actual region and offset of the physical locationof the corresponding data in the cache 102.

The membership metadata module 718, in another embodiment, in responseto the eviction module 732 evicting data of a range of logical addressesfrom the cache 102, transitions a corresponding entry 1142, 1144, 1146,1148 from storing a valid physical location to storing membershipmetadata 1150, such as a frequency count, pool indicator, sequencenumber, or the like. For example, the membership metadata module 718 maychange the region:offset values of an entry 1142, 1144, 1146, 1148 froma valid region value to an invalid value (e.g. zero, NULL) and set afrequency count to zero so that the membership metadata module 718 mayincrement the frequency count to track read requests, write requests, orthe like. In response to the frequency count for an entry 1142, 1144,1146, 1148 satisfying a readmission threshold, the read request module720 may readmit previously evicted data of an entry 1142, 1144, 1146,1148 back into the cache 102, and the membership metadata module 718 maytransition the entry 1142, 1144, 1146, 1148 back to storing a validphysical location for the data in the cache 102. While the membershipmetadata module 718, in the depicted embodiment, uses an invalidphysical location of zero to indicate that an entry 1142, 1144, 1146,1148 corresponds to data the cache does not currently store and that theentry 1142, 1144, 1146, 1148 stores membership metadata 1150, in otherembodiments, each entry 1142, 1144, 1146, 1148 may include additionalfields for membership metadata 1150, may include a flag or otherindicator that the cache 102 does not currently store data of thecorresponding range of logical addresses, or the like.

FIG. 12 depicts one embodiment of a method 1200 for managing contents ofa cache 102. The method 1200 begins and the storage request module 602monitors 1202 storage requests received by the cache 102. The read poolmodule 604 adjusts 1204 a size of a read pool of the cache 102 tomaximize a read hit rate of the cache 102 based on the monitored 1202storage requests. The dirty write pool module 606 adjusts 1206 a size ofa dirty write pool of the cache 102 to maximize a dirty write hit rateof the cache 102 based on the monitored 1202 storage requests. Themethod 1200 continues, in the depicted embodiment, and the storagerequest module 602 continues to monitor 1202 storage requests.

FIG. 13 depicts another embodiment of a method 1300 for managingcontents of a cache 102. The method 1300 begins and the storage requestmodule 602 monitors 1302 storage requests received by the cache 102. Therecent pool module 724 determines 1304 a target recent read pool sizefor a recent read pool of the cache 102 based on the monitored 1302storage requests. The frequent pool module 726 determines 1306 a targetfrequent read pool size for a frequent read pool of the cache 102 basedon the monitored 1302 storage requests. The dirty write pool module 606determines 1308 a target dirty write pool size for a dirty write pool ofthe cache 102 based on the monitored 1302 storage requests. The cleanwrite pool module 702 determines 1310 a target clean write pool size fora clean write pool of the cache 102 based on the monitored 1302 storagerequests.

The eviction module 732, in the depicted embodiment, selects 1312 datafor eviction from the cache 102 and/or adjusts an eviction rate based ona difference between an actual size of the recent read pool and therecent read pool size, a difference between an actual size of thefrequent read pool and the target frequent read pool size, and/or adifference between an actual size of the clean read pool and the targetclean read pool size, so that the actual sizes tend to follow the targetsizes over time. The destage module 708 adjusts 1314 a destage rate atwhich the destage module 708 destages data from the dirty write pool tothe backing store 118 based on a difference between an actual size ofthe dirty write pool and the target dirty write pool size and/or adifference between an actual size of the clean write pool and the targetclean write pool size. The method 1300 continues, in the depictedembodiment, and the storage request module 602 continues to monitor 1302storage requests.

FIG. 14 depicts one embodiment of a method 1400 for preserving read datain a cache 102. The method 1400 begins and the storage request module602 determines 1402 whether the cache 102 has received a read request.If the storage request module 602, in the depicted embodiment, does notdetect 1402 a storage request, the method 1400 continues and the storagerequest module 602 continues to monitor 1402 read requests.

If the storage request module 602 determines 1402 that the cache 102 hasreceived a read request, the read request module 720 reads 1404 the readrequest data from the cache 102 to service the read request. The readpool module 604 determines 1406 whether the read request satisfies afrequent read threshold. In the depicted embodiment, if the read poolmodule 604 determines 1406 that the read request does not satisfy thefrequent read threshold, the method 1400 continues and the storagerequest module 602 continues to monitor 1402 read requests.

If the read pool module 604 determines 1406 that the read requestsatisfies the frequent read threshold, the write forward module 710writes 1408 the read request data forward on a log of the cache 102. Inone embodiment, the write forward module 710 reduces a number of readsfrom the storage media 110 of the cache 102 by writing forward data thatthe read request module 720 has already read 1404 from the storage media110, instead of reading the data from the storage media 110 again orallowing the frequent data module 730 to read the data from the storagemedia 110. The method 1400, in the depicted embodiment, continues andthe storage request module 602 continues to monitor 1402 read requests.

FIG. 15 depicts one embodiment of a method 1500 for maintaining metadatafor evicted data. In the depicted embodiment, the method 1500 begins andthe membership metadata module 718 determines 1502 whether the evictionmodule 732 has evicted data from the cache 102. If the membershipmetadata module 718 determines 1502 that the eviction module 732 has notevicted data from the cache 102, the membership metadata module 718continues to monitor 1502 cache evictions.

If the membership metadata module 718, in the depicted embodiment,determines 1502 that the eviction module 732 has evicted data from thecache 102, the membership metadata module 718 maintains 1504 metadatafor the evicted data. Maintaining 1504 metadata, in one embodiment, mayinclude updating a mapping structure, such as the mapping structure 1100and the cache membership map 1110, 1120 of FIGS. 11A and 11B or thelike, to indicate that the cache 102 no longer stores the evicted dataand that the data has been evicted. In a further embodiment, themetadata may include a pool membership indicator or the like indicatingfrom which data pool the eviction module 732 evicted the data, asequence number, or other membership metadata.

The storage request module 602, in the depicted embodiment, determines1506 whether there is a subsequent read request for the evicted data.For example, in one embodiment, the storage request module 602 maydetermine 1506 whether there is a subsequent read request for theevicted data within a predefined period of time, at least a readmissionthreshold number of read requests for the evicted data, or the like. Ifthe storage request module 602 determines 1506 that there is not asubsequent read request for the evicted data, that a number of readrequests for the evicted data does not satisfy a readmission threshold,or the like, the membership metadata module 718 continues to monitor1502 cache evictions. If the storage request module 602 determines 1506that there is a subsequent read request for the evicted data, that anumber of read requests for the evicted data satisfies a readmissionthreshold, or the like, the read pool module 604 adds 1508 the evicteddata directly to a frequent read pool of the cache 102, instead ofadding the evicted data to a recent read pool of the cache 102, or thelike. The method 1500 continues and the membership metadata module 718continues to monitor 1502 cache evictions. While the method 1500illustrates maintaining metadata for evicted data, in other embodiments,the method 1500 or a similar method may be applied to maintainingmetadata for data that has not yet been stored in the cache 102, and theread pool module 604 may add 1508 the data to a frequent read pool oranother read pool of the cache 102 in response to a subsequent readrequest for the data, a number of read requests for the data satisfyinga preadmission threshold, or the like.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from its spirit or essential characteristics. The describedembodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrativeand not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicatedby the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. Allchanges which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are to be embraced within their scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for managing contents of a cache, themethod comprising: monitoring storage requests received by a cache, thestorage requests comprising read requests and write requests; adjustinga size of a read pool of the cache to maximize a read hit rate of thestorage requests; and adjusting a size of a dirty write pool of thecache to maximize a dirty write hit rate of the storage requests.